Hard Rock from the 80/90’s directly from Finland. The band is BLADE and it took some time to find them online as there are plenty of bands with the same name. Joker And Clowns is their third album and their approach is a no excuse, more commercial and melodic hard rock. Let's see if they are more on the side of BON JOVI or PEARL JAM.. The first track is “Never Stop Rocking”, and it is an ode to rock and fun. Good tune, but very safe using the usual riffs and melodies from that rock era. Nice melody and musicianship but the tune is not an amazing tune as the first one of an album should be. That first tune that shows what the band is all about and may predict that the album will be interesting.

The second tune “Burning Eyes” is led by a keyboard riff and has a better melody and chorus than the first. Guitar solos are very shy so far despite the good guitar bases. No guitar solo dexterity unfortunately. “Column Of Fire” is next and has an IRON MAIDEN vibe with a mysterious melody and epic vocals for the chorus. The boys know how to write a tune with different moods spread within, and this is a great sign. The best tune so far in my opinion. We follow with “My Demons” and back to the more direct hard rock output. The tune reminds me of SKID ROW in their peak. The mis section reminds me of DEEP PURPLE with the guitar solos shared with a keyboard solo. Another good tune, this time, with much better guitar solos by the duo Pekka Viljanen and Jaakko Paljakka.

 BLADE reminds me of a number of bands from the hard rock era and they mix the styles in the genre. We reach halfway pointy with the unavoidable ballad. “Alone” is the name and love suffering is the game. A basic romantic ballad going through the usual motions of love suffering. Nothing memorable unfortunately. We are back to 80/90’s rock with “Hey Dude” ( do we still use this?) The chorus says -Hey dude I know where I’m going, I was born to Rock and Roll. Kudos to you, but the song is not very convincing of this. This is another generic track using the 3 most explored chords in rock history. The band is uneven in their output. Some songs are well thought out and some songs seem to be made just as a filler to the album. “Hot And Wired” is next and despite the heard before riffs, the song has a good melody and vocal work from singer Pepe Tamminen. He has a good voice range and does not compromise, but his range is limited. If you are expecting amazing screams traditional to the genre, you will not find this here.

 The next track is the album title “Joker and Clowns” and has a more syncopated drum rhythm from the good drummer Henrik Hyöppönen. This is another tune that has different moods and a good instrumental mid section that takes you out of the regular riff to another place. Another good song on a very uneven album. You can check a Youtube video for this one. The next tune is “Tell Me” and it has BRUCE DINKINSON solo work vibes all over it. A simple riff that you do not normally get (for a change) and some epic style vocals on top. Is not a bad tune but I am not a fan unfortunately. We reach the end of our journey with “Maniac” , which is a cover from the soundtrack of the movie Flashdance. - She's a maniac, maniac.. and she is dancing like she has never danced before. Yes, that tune, and I like it! The original song is already kind of rock and the cover gave a little more edge to it.

Good hard rock band from Finland despite being uneven in their output. Some tunes in the album are very good with sparkles of creativity and musicianship. Some are too generic and too “by the book”. When you create a band that will play a dated style of music, you either turn into a kind of a tribute to the style band that despite having their own songs, the output is something you heard a million times with BON JOVI and WINGER, or a band that gets that style of music and add their own sauce exploring what that genre can still be.