In the current present it will be hard to find some female singers who would go on with the singing direction of LITA FORD, or Sweet Marrie Black from JADE. I have found out over time that most female singers chose to follow the path of the Symphonic / Gothic / Opera Metal like NIGHTWISH / DRACONIAN or into the deathly zones of ARCH ENEMY.

Back in the 80s it was different as most of the female singers remained loyal to the music's scene without straying that much, when it was all about Rock N' Roll. Sweden, again, provided an additional chance to go back in time with a great new band named NUBIAN ROSE, which consists of a strong charismatic female singer named Sofia Lilja Åkerlund. The band has been playing melodic 80s rocking riffs with super class performance rate. They started building their reputation via the debut album "Mountain" along with performing all over Sweden and reached to others countries radio stations such as in Greece, France, Spain and also in the U.S.A.

"Ever See Your Face", right from the start you will notice the unique voice of Åkerlund with her wide range. It is a good track to start up an album thanks to its addictive chorus that shares optimistic atmosphere with its guitar chords. "Mountain" shows the heavier side of NUBIAN ROSE with a strong, fast heavy guitar riff along with the nice work of the keyboards. "Living For Tomorrow" in my opinion is the best song on the album, it has a very good melody, nice chorus that can be fitted as a Rock anthem and it is a great to play live, aside from the great lyrics message. "How Am I" is a nice ballad, it is very easy to get into it. I wouldn't say that it blew me away, it was built in a rather banal fashion, even the C part wasn't a surprise by its moves but the vocal work delivered that painful atmosphere.

"Get Ready" is another great track, the keyboard sections are some of the strongest, taking their place up front, especially on the chorus, but with a good vibe. The guitar solo is enormous, melting with the party vibe of the song. The band chose to release "Reckless" as the single track of the album. I think it wasn't such a wise choice, the verses are really good and same with the vocals work but the chorus is less powerful than the verse which has a heavy metal vibe. The next track was a big surprise for me, you may all know it as the famous duet between Ozzy Osbourne and Lita Ford "Close My Eyes Forever". Here we have a beautiful performance of the song by Åkerlund and Mats Leven, it is still not as the original but it is interesting to hear it in a different professional vocalists. The performance is not bad at all, Åkerlund doesn't have the roughness of Ford's voice, but she did it gently in her own way and succeeded on passing the right amount of emotions of the song.

NUBIAN ROSE brought over a sweet album, with a rocking material, I know that some prefer to listen to male vocals on the mic but in this case we are dealing with one hell of a female singer that can teach many a thing or two about how to sing Hard Rock properly.