Artist : Autumn's Child

Album : Angel's Gate

Release Date : 26-02-2021

Added : 01-04-2021

After a very successful first album released in early 2020 (see here), Swedish 'Mikael Erlandsson' continues his regular rhythm of an album every year and we say to ourselves that for all these years, how does he manage to always offer us the same level of compositions which are tasted with happiness with each release of album because, this 'Angel's Gate' is still a summary of what we have been able to do best in the field of melodic rock and hard-rock for about four decades. We are therefore once again immersed in reminiscences of formations that have been part of rock history since the 80s with melodies that we immediately appropriate and I am sure that if you listen to any song of this opus for breakfast, it will get you in shape for the whole day. We are therefore embarked between energetic hymns and this from the first track, 'Where Angels Cry' which delivers us an addictive first chorus and, whatever the atmosphere of the song of this album, we can only note that 'Mikael Erlandsson' always has this talent of melodist and always finds the melodic lines which hit the mark at the first listening. In all energetic and catchy ttitles like 'Aquarius Sky' and its remarkable little break highlighting the guitarist 'Pontus Åkesson' or 'Don't Say That Is Love' and his sounds close to 'Alan Parsons Project' or 'Love Is Not an Enemy' in a class-filled AOR close to 'Survivor' or 'The Dream of America' and its 'Supertramp' pianos (a little nod to 'Take The Long Way Home') or even 'Straight Between The Eyes' with its chorus straight out of the 80s, everything is done to have a great time. And when the tempo slows down, 'Mikael Erlandsson' gratifies us with three sentimental ballads ('A Tear from the Sky' and its 'Queen' intonations, 'Don't Ever Leave Me' reminiscent of 'Billy Joël' and its admirable guitar solo and 'Your Words' which is the kind of track that we play on a loop) with very classic melodies but which, once again, are formidably effective and take us back to the best melodies of the 70s/80s (I added these 3 titles in my Spotify playlist of 'Rock/hard-rock/metal ballads').

In summary, with his project 'Autumn's Child', 'Mikael Erlandsson' continues to offer us a digest of the best of the melodic rock of the 70s / 80s which in fact, even if it will not revolutionize the style, one of the most prolific Swedes in this style and this 'Angel's Gate' is yet to be savored without moderation...

Myprogmusic reviews of the albums of 'Mikael Erlandsson' projects :
Last Autumn's Dream – Level Eleven – 2015
Last Autumn's Dream – Paintings – 2016
Last Autumn's Dream – In Disguise – 2017
Last Autumn's Dream – Fourteen – 2018
Autumn’s Child – Autumn’s Child – 2020

Line Up / Musicians

Mikael Erlandsson (Vocal, Keybords), Claes Andreasson (Piano), Pontus Åkesson (Guitar), Jona Tee (Keybords), Robban Bäck (Drums), Johan Strömberg (Bass)