At the beginning of each year, we start to get used to it, the metronome 'Mikael Erlandsson' gratifies us with a new album with his new project 'Autumn's Child', the eponymous album 'Autumn's Child' from early 2020 and 'Angel's Gate' from early 2021. The lineup has changed slightly because it is now bassist 'Magnus Rosen' who has replaced 'Johan Strömberg' and, on this last album, the Swede has invited other artists, including keyboardist 'Jona Tee' who was a member of the group on the last opus. So, will 2022 be a good year for 'Autumn's Child'? If you follow the regular releases of 'Mickael Erlandsson', you suspect the answer because, we still have in our hands, a compendium of what we can do best in melodic rock and hard rock: first of all, there are catchy compositions with memorable melodies that punctuate 'Zenith' starting with the opening track 'Emergency' and a first chorus that makes you want to sing along. In the same style, the two following tracks 'Evangeline' and 'Love is a fighter' take us back to the best of the 80's, but 'Never Say Die', 'Angel of Danger', 'High On Love' are all melodic gems that are an immediate pleasure to listen to. The rhythmic 'Crowdpleaser' and the furious 'Don't Wanna' also convey a crazy energy and make you feel good for a whole day. And to recover between all these catchy melodic compositions, 'Mikael Erlandsson' still has a gift for giving us memorable ballads, of which there are three: 'Nigthingale', 'Heaven Can Wait' and the semi-acoustic 'Damaged Souls', which ends the album beautifully.
In summary, no matter the name 'Last Autumn Dream' or 'Autumn's Child', the Swedish 'Mikael Erlandsson' continues to release albums as addictive as each other at an annual cruising frequency and the quality is always on point. This latest baby 'Zenith' confirms this and remarkably opens the year 2022 in melodic hard rock... | |
