The expression "you don't change a winning team" is quite appropriate for the Swedes of 'Grand Design' who return with a new studio recording, 'Rawk', after three years of absence and after their last album 'V'. Indeed, the albums follow one another and always offer us so much energy in a melodic hard rock bringing us back to the 80s with radiant choruses à la 'Def Leppard'. And as we are now used to, we have an unbroken string of hits at our disposal and the Swedes didn't have to worry about choosing the last three singles since they simply took the first three titles of the album: 'Tuff It Out' (see the video above) opens the ball with a composition à la 'Def Leppard' which could well have appeared in 'Pyromania' or 'Hysteria', then 'God Bless Rawk n Roll' (see video here ) follows suit with an addictive refrain and 'Love or a Fantasy' drives the point home with another melodic gem (see the video here).
The sequel offers us other unstoppable melodies with, first of all, muscular and fast compositions like 'Your Luv is Drivin' Me Crazy', 'We Were Born To Rawk n Roll' (see the video here) or even 'Get Out' (see the video here ), the last two titles being released more than a year ago as singles. We will also not miss the compositions with more moderate atmospheres with, for example, 'Desperate Hearts' and 'Dangerous Attraction' with a remarkable alternation of intensities between verses and refrains with generous choirs but also with the melodic anthem 'Carry on My Wind' on which singer 'Erik Grawsiö' ('Månegarm') and guitarist 'Veith Offenbächer' ('Dawn of Destiny') participate or with the ballad from the album 'Give It All Up for Luv'. And going back to the 80s, the very 'Lepardian' 'In the H.EA.T. of the Nite' concludes the album in a very beautiful way.
In summary, the Swedes of 'Grand Design' continue to offer us sumptuous albums in the great tradition and above all with the same quality as the major formations of the 80s of melodic hard rock and 'Rawk' is added to the list of the best albums of the year 2023 in this style of music... | |
