When I saw the name 'Grand Slam', I said to myself that the Swedes of the same name had been resurrected after falling off the radar following their first studio recording in 2016, their opus not being not even available for streaming since at least 2018, when 'Creye' which was led by the guitarist of 'Grand Slam'. And then, listening to the first bars of 'Wheel Of Fortune', I had the impression of hearing again a well-known band from the 70s, I called 'Thin Lizzy'. What I didn't know was that before he died at 36, 'Phil Lynott' had tried to create a new group called 'Grand Slam' and that no record company wanted to produce it. The guitarist 'Laurence Archer' who was present at the time, therefore wanted to rekindle the flame lit by 'Phil Lynott' with a first album 'Hit The Ground' in 2019. We therefore find in this new album the touch of the legendary group but the British add super catchy melodic lines which makes this 'Wheel Of Fortune' full of melodic hits with a modern sound that take you back four decades. To be convinced, you just need to listen to the first two tracks, the first of which 'Here Goes My Heart' was the subject of a video (see above). If you like these first two titles, you should easily adopt all the compositions which are very good, direct and effective hard rock. And to top it all off, the British offer us two beautiful moments of serenity in the middle of all this energy deployed throughout the album: first of all 'Feeling Is Strong' is to be added to the best rock ballads, then the title track closes the album with a magnificent semi-acoustic. In short, this latest 'Grand Slam' album happily takes us back a few decades while bringing a breath of fresh air to this timeless melodic hard rock which continues to give us great listening pleasure... | |
