Melodic Rock and Sweden is one of the world's most obvious musical synonyms. Newcomers SOUTH OF YOU create a commercial, but lofty, airy and melodic blend of AOR, Alternative Rock and Indie, and here we have their debut full-length offering, "Moments". Let me just make one thing clear: this is about as far away as one can get from Metal in the Rock spectrum. The album is filled to the brim with archetypal motifs of the genre; upbeat, airy and inspiring chord progressions, and soaring vocals. While the arrangements are crisp and well-executed, with tangible dynamics fielded by the instruments, the vocals are easily the band's strongest point.

Opening track "Let It Out" happens to be the best track on the album because of this very reason. Vocals aside, the combination of drums, bass and guitars are typical of your every-day rock album. However, great thought appears to be put into dynamic progressions for individual instruments, and prolonged listening reveals the tracks to be strangely heterogenous for such a notoriously homogenous genre. But the vocals. Oh, the vocals. Johannes Kotschy is easily one of the most talented singers I have heard in a very long time. He displays a vast command of range and pitch control, transitioning seamlessly from croony verses to intense falsettos; his power as a vocalist is unmistakable. Quite frankly, the band could not have chosen a song to better open the album.

None of the tracks to follow quite attain the splendour of the opening track, but there are a few gems in the rough to be found. Nay, they are not bad tracks, far from it; but "Let It Out" set the standard so stupendously high. "Somewhere Else" is the album's proverbial crowd-pleasing arm-waver; a mid-paced, dozy track, aplenty with wistful and heartfelt vibes. "The Trip" and "The Burden" are relatively upbeat compared to the rest of the album; the latter featuring some memorable guitar and bass lines.

This is definitely an album for the crowd, for the radio, and for someone who deserves to feel happy. That is what this album is, that is what this band plays. They play happy music, multi-layered and multi-faceted.