WIGELIUS – Reinventions {Japan Edition +1}
“Reinventions” is the debut CD from WIGELIUS, one of the more interesting young acts recently emerged from the hotbed of AOR Sweden. This quite hard to find (and expensive) Japanese Edition includes an exclusive bonus track.
The band is built around the talents of youthful vocalist Anders Wigelius who’s also is pretty skilled on the guitar / keyboards and possesses an admiration for Richard Marx, Journey, Foreigner and Toto. His voice is made to sing in the AOR / Melodic Hard Rock top division.
Anders’s older brother Erik Wigelius is playing the drums and with Jake Svensson on guitars and Chris “Wielbass” Pettersson on the bass, they have created a disc full of catchy songs and tasteful melodies; their debut “Reinventions”.
The first thing that grabs me about “Reinventions” is the rather tight & crisp production courtesy of Daniel Flores (who is the mastermind behind such acts as Issa), as the sonics will instantly get hooked any AOR aficionado.
“Angeline” is a great opening song with mega-strong vocals and a screaming guitar sound that offers everything expected (and more) from this type of release with smooth instrumentation, neat backing vocalisation and a catchy chorus.
The singer’s performance takes center-stage once again on “Talking About Love” with all those aforementioned multi-platinum selling influences quite evident, great choral arrangements and song structure.
It’s on tunes like “Do You Really Know” and “Next To Me” where that the true potential of Anders shines through in all its glory, and just take a listen to “My Cassandra”, a modern day classic of the genre if ever there was one.
It’s also great to hear the Wigelius band showing their harder rocking roots on “Piece Of The Action”, “Too Young To Fall In Love” is pure melodic rock with a crunchy guitar but loads of keyboards and harmony vocals, while “Right Here Right Now” is a classic semi-midtempo Scandi melodic rocker that reminds you 80s Treat in style but with a modern production.
“Love Can Be That Much’ is a simple beautiful acoustic piece with the softened tones of Wigelius and a spot on choral hook. There’s no reason with the right promotion this couldn’t dent worldwide markets, it’s simply too good a tune to slip under the musical radar.
“Hold On To Love” is another solid, catchy commercial showing, and this theme continues into “There Is No Me Without You” and here I think the title gives the tune away. Yeah you guessed it, it’s a piano driven love song, again with this track the global possibilities for Wigelius are glaringly evident.
“Reinventions” closes on a high with “I Reach Out” drawing a line under a collection of songs that the guys should be extremely proud of.
The Japanese bonus track is “Piece Of The Action [Acoustic Version]”, recorded in a lively manner, more uptempo and festive than I expected. Very good version
There is a new wave of high quality AOR / Melodic Rock artists coming from Sweden such as Eclipse, Houston, Work Of Art, H.E.A.T and for shure you can add Wigelius to that list.
“Reinventions” delivers a collection of polished gems superbly crafted and masterly performed in the best tradition of the genre, with an updated sound.
This music is irresistible. Period.
You’ve seen it first here, at 0dayrox
Spinning Records Japan ～ SPIN-39
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01. Angeline
02. Talking About Love
03. Do You Really Know
04. Next To Me
05. My Cassandra
06. Piece Of The Action
07. Too Young To Fall In Love
08. Right Here, Right Now
09. Love Can Be That Much
10. Hold On To Love
11. There Is No Me Without You
12. I Reach Out
JAPAN BONUS TRACK:
13. Piece Of The Action [Acoustic Version]
Anders Wigelius: Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
Jake Svensson: Guitars, Backing vocals
Chris “Wielbass” Pettersson: Bass, Backing vocals
Erik Wigelius: Drums, Backing vocals
BUY IT !
www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/SPIN-39
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