As AOR's long reign ended in the early years of the 90' due Alternative Rock/Grunge Rock tsunamic trend in USA, the genre seemed to die. No one was playing such genre anymore, but in the past decade, the genre became resurrected in European countries, and the success came back (not as in the 80's, though), and unleashed a massive invasion of the genre once more. Sweden became a great country for it, and it's not a surprise to see Swedish musicians getting along and creating great albums as "Winding Road", the first release of WINDING ROAD.

The band is a project of Magnus and Jan, who met at Magnus' studio, and started to create songs, and soon they brought Jonas (an old Jan's friend) to the project. And their music is based on the 80's AOR/Glam Metal insight, because even with very good keyboards and synths, the focus is on the guitars and backing vocals. But these experienced guys created a form of music that, even not being something new, it's amazing, with very good melodies, catchy choruses and that awakens that feeling that those who lived in the 80's knows (this writer, among them). The sonority of "Winding Road" seems to be a blend sometimes. They use the same approach usual to AOR bands, with clean and defined tunes, but due the heavy work of the guitars, it bears some rough feeling. And it's not a sin, because things are really improved, without tearing apart the melodic appeal and clean feeling of the album.

This album is almost impossible to resist to, with all songs being very good. But the appeal of "It's a Matter of Survival" (very good guitar riffs and solos), the catchy melodic energy of "Summertime" (a solid work on bass guitar and drums), the charming melodic keyboards parts of "Call on Me" (what amazing chorus) and of "Out of Control", the catchy melodies of "Stranger in the Night" (the vocals are really amazing, indeed), and the frantic AOR/Glam Metal song called "Gotta Get Close to You" are the best ones to begin with, but on this album, don't leave any song out of your playlist.

"Winding Road" is such a delightful release, and let's hope that the AOR Heaven staff can convince Jonas, Magnus and Jan to keep the band on the road.