myself if there are any boarders left to break? Is there that hidden fear that remaining in the same place for far too long would eventually lead to foreclosure of career? However, I keep forgetting that in the music business, it is not always about whether an artist is versatile or not, or even the measure of the public worth. It will always end up with the final product, the standard of the efforts, whether knowing or not knowing if it will survive the test of time. I guess I answered my own wonderings, or at least some of them. I kept pushing these thoughts while listening to the new COLDSPELL album, "A New World Arise", via Escape Music, the third installment by the Swedish Hard N' Heavy group. A band, which like any other in the vast market, strives to become the top of Rock.

Unlike a long line of bands equal to COLDSPELL's status, it seems that the Swedes haven't been trying to reinvent themselves. They have been treading the modern edged Hard Rock fields for more than a decade, sticking to their guns and being very good at it. So why change anything really other than keep perfecting the songwriting here and there? That is pretty much the general storyline of "A New World Arise", no news is good news and I believe that you would be able to notice it rather quickly. Rather similar in style to the ongoing EUROPE / H.E.A.T / FATAL SMILE / PRETTY MAIDS, the Swedes have been giving free reins to the 80s fusion of AOR / Hard Rock and Metal spirits to keep hovering above their creations, shifting between guitar to song oriented songwriting, recapturing wonderful atmospheric anthems delivered the midst of slashing rhythm grooves and classically performed lead guitar works. I guess that the only thing that bothered me, not totally but it itched here and there, is the band's cliché' themes, listening to the same lyrics time and time again, as if being prophet, knowing what the next line will bring, can be somewhat irritating. Don't get me wrong, the music can be divine, yet as a songwriter, I believe that the lyrics, and eventually the general feel that those produce, should also be taken into account.

Without checking out the new video, which I need to really and poor of me for not doing so sooner, I felt that "Call Of The Wild" took the band into the big league, a sealed in stone in heavy Rock kicker, shining with superb guitar work and a triumphant chorus that is a sure pleasure for any Rocker's heart. "Forevermore" turned out as a Hard N' Heavy catchy sing-along anthem, a spectacular opener for any record of this kind, harnessing the 80s Metal flame into a dramatic, pumped up with energy, track. "Signs" is a production of yet another Rock anthem, sharing the values of 80s AOR with sweeping melodic Hard Rock that also has a fair share of entrapping heaviness. High quality songwriting and tremendous vocal work, surely one of the album's finest. It even received an acoustic version as bonus. Continuing the Hard N' Heavy fold with finesse, the skin itching "It Hurts" slams with its slow to mid-tempo rhythms, entwining old school and modern directions under its command. The self-titled effort portrays a dramatic epic, an exact chosen one to put the last nail in the album's list. An impressive modern edged heavy riffer, delivering the goods with neatly done melodies, whether guitar or halation of keyboards and a tuneful solo. The chorus, mastered by the skilled Niclas Svedentorp, is quite soulful. The end result is a futuristic tune that reaches beyond the stars. Others recommended: "Losing My Mind", "This Is Me" and "Miles Away".

With the release of "A New World Arise", COLDSPELL basically remained in the same line that has been guiding them throughout their career, a solid proof that it is not an obligation to turn things around just to be rendered as innovative.