Three studio albums, one compilation and... it's one of those wonders of nature that M.ill.ion didn't get as high as Talisman (not to mention Europe) in the hearts - and ears - of Scandinavian Hard Rock fans. Detonator was released at a critical point for the band's operational strategy. Thanks to Majestic Rock, there's a second chance to clarify your opinion about this band! Roll on!
With a new singer - Ulrich Carlsson - instead of the magnificent Hasse Johansson, 19 year old (then) guitarist Jonas Hermansson was chosen from over 70 applying sixstringers. Two changes in parallel critical positions can mean very much for any band. Certainly, M.ill.ion is not the kind of band that would quit that easily, trying to find out where the new identity lies. Detonator was originally released in 2001 through the British A2 label, mixed in the most famous studio in the world - Abbey Road studio - and was hailed by the Media and the fans as the band's best effort to date. Hmmm... a tough decision, I'm still on the No. 1 side...
Detonator - in my opinion - is the natural and additional continuation of Electric in terms of songwriting. Still, the presence of Carlsson's hardcore voice and the solid production add even more raw energy to the outgoing result, in a way that sometimes you can easily mistake the band for e.g. Edguy, Brainstorm or Heavenly. Just listen to tracks like I'm Your Blood (some harmonies in Carlsson's voice brought Ozzy in mind), I Know Your Name or Bonebreaker and judge for yourselves. Without this history background, I'm not sure I would categorize Detonator as a Scandinavian Hard Rock album.
Be it A or B, Detonator is for sure M.ill.ion's most heavy effort so far, I almost banged my head to its (faster) tunes. This album is for both the Europe (Europe era) and the Edguy (Mandrake era) fans. I'm also thinking of Axxis now... Damnit, it's good, what R U waiting for???
- Album Highlights: The amazing guitar work.