Ah, the 80s. There's often a lot of fond memories for those who lived during the decade. (I personally did not) I did grow up hearing loads of music from that era though, including plenty of bands German band SHE BITES aims to pay homage to. The AOR//Pop Rock band  features members of LIONCAGE and is fronted by singer/actress Melanie Stahlkopf. Their debut album "Joyride" reels in on June 19^th and you're in for a sweet trip of nostalgia while listening to this 80s inspired album.

The title track "Joyride" is very 80s radio rock with an upbeat tempo, pleasant guitar riffs that revolve like a ferris wheel, and vocals sweet as a candy apple at the county fair.  "Heartbreak Hotel" is not, in fact, a cover of the Elvis Presley classic, but instead a song of forbidden love. The little details in this song are intriguing. The verses are smoky and sultry. You can feel the romantic tension with the guitar strums that sound like when two lover's eyes meet in a crowded room. The song speeds up at the chorus to break that tension, until the end when the vocals become muffled, like guilt has set in. "I'll Be Alright" is a power ballad. It's a solid track, a break-up recovery song that reminded me of ROXETTE. "Rock This Night" is an uplifting duet with DREAMTIDE singer Olaf Senkbeil. It's charming with a catchy chorus and an all around sweet and playful melody.  "The Simple Song" is similar with the uptempo feel and pure nostalgic feeling melody. "Punches" has a darker heavier sound to go with the subject manner. The vocals are really muffled in this song and I'm unsure if it was intentional or just weird mixing. "Push the Button" has a similar subject manner that the title track has; taking a crazy chance because life is too short. This one is more of a romantic nature, but it felt pretty similar to the title track otherwise.

Overall, "Joyride" is a solid AOR album. There were plenty of sticky sweet melodies and some quaint guitar solos that could have easily been in any radio top 100 songs during the 1980s. There's this nostalgic feeling you get while listening to this album, like spinning on a carnival ride on a hot summer day. A mass portion of the album didn't have a lot I felt I needed to highlight, but I still found this album an enjoyable meltaway sort of album. It doesn't have to be iconic in sound to be entertaining to listen to... Although it still wasn't quite enough interesting elements to keep my interest for long.