ROUND-UP: MELODIC ROCK
Cruzh The Jungle Revolution FRONTIERS
With half a decade and a change of vocalist separating their selftitled debut from 2016 and follow-up Tropical Thunder, Swedish rockers Cruzh have walked something of a gradual, inconsistent path. That debut was a respectable yet overly familiarsounding clarion call, but the appointment of Alex Waghorn at the mic for Tropical Thunder enabled Cruzh to take substantial strides forward.
Three years on, the improvements continue. The Jungle Revolution is a big, colourful statement, with lashings of shred guitar, seismic backing harmonies and tasteful keyboard embellishments. One thing for sure is that Cruzh have never sounded any better than this. The insistent title track provides a rebellious invitation to kick-start the party, Skullcruzher is a huge fist-pumper, while the endearingly cliché-loaded FL89 is required listening for those still mourning the mighty Danger Danger.
Cruzh are not the finished article just yet, although they’re definitely headed in the right direction.
Circle Of Friends Cherokee Moon ESCAPE MUSIC
Essentially a collection of leftovers from 2021’s melodic all-star gathering The Garden, Cherokee Moon once again teams a plethora of well-regarded players with different singers on each of its 11 tracks. Many of the original participants return, and the content is equally covers-heavy, including Girl From Lebanon by Europe, Can’t Let You Go by Rainbow and Ten’s epic The Robe.
About Us Take A Piece FRONTIERS
Album number two from this promising six-piece band from Nagaland, India, who are blessed with bags of technical ability. and a soaring singer in Sochan Kikon. However, AOR groups are expected to stick to a pretty strict blueprint, so About Us’s sporadic diversions into heavy metal – and also Kikon’s growling – could alienate melodic-rock purists.
Oz Hawe Petersson’s Rendezvous Oz Hawe Petersson’s Rendezvous PRIDE & JOY MUSIC
A decade after they were together in the short-live Eye, guitarist Petersson and keyboard player Mathias Rosén reunite in Rendezvous with a set of stirring AOR tunes rendered all the more enjoyable by the presence of Boulevard singer David Forbes and UK vocalist Jane Gould on two tracks each.
Arkado Open Sea PRIDE & JOY MUSIC
Four years after debut album Never Say Never whetted more than a few appetites, these Swedes return with a follow-up that adds a slightly more symphonic and heavier edge to what was already an extremely accomplished sound. Unlike so many albums that start well but gradually peter out, Open Sea is crammed with consistently strong Scandi ear worms.