Unfortunately this is not a hockey based music band! You know that could have been great and unheard of, talk about Canada's sport and hitting, crosschecking and scoring goals and talk about it in songs! But no, this is actually a comeback album from the Danish AOR Rockers POWERPLAY who've been out of bound for about 20 years, and as such it's a step in the right direction and something that's actually pretty good for a band that hasn't done anything all these years. (Get it? All These Years? Like the name of the album... anyways I believe I lost my train of thought.)

First of all, I had never heard about this band until yesterday when I listened to this album on my way to work. There is a progression of styles in the album. A lot of styles are covered throughout the album; we have some AOR, but we also have songs that are much heavier than what they did in the eighties. They branch out much more than what they did in the earlier years and there is a lot more outside influences in their style. I can sense some heavy influences from bands like JOURNEY, KIM MITCHELL and REO SPEEDWAGON. It's very enjoyable stuff and while it's not mindblowingly original I just really like the vibe of the songs, and there is some heavier songs and some are more commercially driven songs evidently. I highly enjoyed the message of "So What (Let Me Be)"; something that a lot of people can relate to, not wanting to change for someone and that everyone has to accept how people are, with the bad and the good. I think that's a pretty resounding message, don't you think?

The song "All Those Years" does give you sense of renewal for the band, they are reflecting on their past and what they did after they disbanded. They seem to be glad to be together again and you can also hear it throughout "Climb a Mountain". The lyrics say it's not easy to climb a mountain, you always need help, each other to grasp the concept of climbing over obstacles and being a better person after achieving the task at hand. The lyrics of the song are the best thing going on in this album and they are not one-dimensional and can be interpreted in many ways by whoever listens to it.

Well, let's talk about one really negative thing about this album. The singer does butcher the English language (well the guys are from Denmark, so I might be too severe in my comments) and sometimes I really don't understand the words at all. This is very big pet peeve of mine to be perfectly honest but the flow of the songs are great but his pronunciation isn't always the greatest so that kinda bugged all throughout the album. The singer has some great range and does remind me of those great eighties singers and he still has the pipes after a long way out of making music. Though his pronunciation isn't great, it's not something you dwell on too much and you let the music and lyrics guide you on really enjoying this album.

Nonetheless, this is a pretty good comeback and I wouldn't mind looking up their discography. Which I was able to do quite recently and this is quite a step forward and I would like to see them in concert if they ever come in North America.