CASABLANCA – Riding A Black Swan (2013)
*
A new type or Rock is here to stay, or is it new after all? Spawning in Sweden, Stockholm area, one of the reinvented Glam Rock / Metal’s strongholds of late, this cranky Rock fever is no less tasty than any of the Glam ventures going on. Walking the plank, quite a thin floorboard actually, there is an impressive journey through the outskirts of Glam Metal in a bowl of classic youthful Hard Rock driven by late ’70s and early ’80s attributes. Modern or vintage, this is a piece of honesty and a cause for admiration.
There you have CASABLANCA, featuring one of Alice Cooper’s stained guitar flames, Ryan Roxie, and their sophomore release “Riding A Black Swan”.
Following their successful debut Apocalyptic Youth, the rockin’ endeavor continues on a fiercer note with sharper fangs on the wings of a blackened swan with this new recording. Rock is on a roll, and there is no place to hide, darkness has arrived, and it is ready to engulf you with its favored color.
I have been banging my head in order to find some comparisons for you in order to let you capture a least a bit of the essence of Casablanca but I only came up with fragments. Along with features of Kiss, Motley Crue, Hanoi Rocks, The Poodles and of course Alice Cooper, there is the crunchiness of the Hard Rock buzz of vintage times pervaded with elements of nowadays Glammy Rock.
Fortunately, Casablanca seemed to be generally enthused by the classics rather than newer perspectives; it is quite apparent by their chosen crispy sound which was cleverly engineered & mixed, and of course their material seems to be playing the good, older game.
The songwriting on this new album is rather straight to the point, courses oriented songs, catchy and easy, earthy rhythm section that showcases a tight backbone, riffs take it down to the Blues at times, but mostly freewheeling frenzy of tasty straight up Rock in a top notch form, grazing at will with melodic leaks and swaggering soloing.
It might appear to be just like any album / band in this genre, yet I beg to differ. “Riding A Black Swan” also gives the impression that is placing its fate on the raspy soaring vocals of Anders Ljung, sounding like a true veteran Glam frontman with just enough boyish and sexiness in his tones of voice with a slight Joe Elliot flavor.
Ljung’s center role, inspired performance through these songs, has really pushed Casablanca’s impact to a new dimension.
With a free spirited youthful madness, Casablanca slaps with “Hail The Liberation” and “Dead End Street Revisited”, classy ripping rockers, filled with spunk, true grit and blazes of the past, surging with nifty riffing and world class choruses staining with a dappled atmosphere.
“Barriers” and “Just For The Nite” are probably two of the coolest Hard Rock extensions of this number, persevering rockin’ tunes harbouring some nice melodies and ample harmonies while “No Devil In Me” takes on the late seventies by storm with a hymn-attack sharing a crispy taste, conjuring both modern and past forms.
As you can probably notice, there isn’t that much to comment about the actual tracks as largely they reveal the same qualities and ingredients for the forging of catchy Rock ‘n Roll.
In overall, “Riding A Black Swan” hit all the right spots as a hard rockin’ classic to be should, slick performance of an incredible talented group blending both vintage and new musical rock directions closer to perfection.
No doubt that Casanova’s second offering will immerse the listener with the hunger to return to it again and again.
Strongly Recommended.
01. The Giant Dreamless Sleep
02. Hail The Liberation
03. Dead End Street Revisited
04. It’s Alright
05. Barriers
06. Riding A Black Swan
07. Some Misty Morning
08. Heartbreak City
09. No Devil In Me
10. Just For The Nite
Anders Ljung – Vocals
Ryan Roxie – Guitar
Erik Stenemo – Guitar
Mats Rubarth – Bass
Josephine Forsman – Drums
thanks to Steinmetal
BUY IT !
cdon.eu/music/casablanca/riding_a_black_swan-24920350
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