When I first listened to COVERED CALL's Money Never Sleeps I knew nothing of the band other than that they had an 80's Metal/AOR sound and that they were from Sweden. There actually have been many bands of a similar sound popping up in Scandinavia, sometimes incorporating some progressive and Power Metal influences as well. This band, however, is pure AOR in the vein of VAN HALEN with Sammy Hagar as well as 'hair' Metal/arena Metal bands of the 80's like BON JOVI.

Covered Call is an investment term, which is appropriate since several of the band members have day jobs as stock traders. This is a rather unique back-story; and despite the name of the album also referring to money, the band's lyrics focus on typical 80's fare such as love and redemption.

The first thing I noticed about COVERED CALL was their powerful vocalist. He sounded somewhat familiar but I could not place him; at least at the time. A few days later I read the band's biography and it turns out that their singer is none of other than Thomas Vikstrom, who sang on CANDLEMASS's vastly underrated Chapter VI! He sings with so much power and conviction that his voice alone is enough to make this album worth your time. All Because of Me, Shine and the title track are made great by Vikstrom's amazing talents.

Unfortunately, the rest of the band cannot live up to the standard established by Mr. Vikstrom. I understand that when a band wants to sound like it is from 1988, the instrumentation is going to be somewhat simpler than modern melodic Metal, but instrumentally there's nothing adding to any of these songs besides basic riffs and drum beats. Even the solos are relatively simplistic; weren't bands from the 80's supposed to have serious guitar shredders? Vikstrom has an amazing voice but he can only do so much for the songs before the guitars need to kick in with a solid riff and/or melody to move it along and add some much needed dynamics.

I think that the artwork was a poor decision as well because anyone passing this in a CD store would think it's some odd Japanese pop/Rock album and would pass it over when they might actually enjoy what's contained therein. Thomas Vikstrom adds some great hooks and vocal melodies to almost all of the songs, but despite their consistency, most of the tracks on here lack the interesting guitar riffs and drumming to take it to the next level. The songs sound great on the first couple of listens, but after that the simplicity and plainness of the musicians begins to wear through.