MICHAEL JESSEN (feat Göran Edman) – Memories (2014)

Danish guitarist MICHAEL JESSEN has been playing in various bands over the years, the most recent being very good rockers High Octane, now dissolved. This is his first solo musical adventure entitled “Memories“.
Jessen asked to his previous bandmates to help, and gets a boost from excellent singer Goran Edman on all vocals, with a guest appearance by Europe’s John Norum.

“Memories” began as an EP, but after landing a contract with Massacre Records a full album was developed.
As you would suspect, “Memories” is pretty a guitar-centered album revolving around Jessen’s riffs and leads. Fortunately, he’s also an accomplished songwriter, so his guitar playing, though the focal point, is also one of several elements in each song. Jessen also has a keen awareness of the necessity of melody and harmony, from his riffs to the rhythm section to the vocal arrangements.

The resulting ‘Jessen sound’ is essentially Scandinavian Melodic Hard Rock with some edge, mostly coming from his sharp heavy riffs and the solid bottom end. These are then tempered by the melody and the accessibility of his hooks and groove.
Additionally, Göran Edman’s lead and harmony vocals are excellent, and on many songs his terrific pipes get as much, or even more prominence than the guitars. His vocal work is truly awesome here, raising the bar of the album considerably.

There’s great, solid melodic hard rockers in the driving opener “Broken Heart”, the groovy “My Own Funeral”, “Dreams Die Hard”, the catchy “Lost in LA” and one of my favorites; “Blackwater”, featuring a guitar solo courtesy of John Norum (Europe).
When the recordings of this album had already started, Norum heard some tracks, liked the music, and accepted to join in. Norum also worked with Edman in the late ’80s on his solo album, and on several tours.

So that is a pretty accurate comparison to this CD: Michael Jessen’s “Memories” is in the same vein of Norum’s Total Control album, with some of John Sykes Blue Murder, yet much more melodic in the Scandi way of things.

There are two nice ballads as well: “The Rose” and “Prisoner”, the former with lighter guitar and great Goran atmospheres, the latter with a light piano current, both have big solos. “When Everything Comes to an End” has slower moments too, but qualifies more as a mid-tempo, a killer one for sure and one of my favorites on the CD.
The album rounds out with an instrumental, where Jessen basically expresses himself and impresses you with solid traditional melodic rock guitar skills.

“Memories” is a truly great Scandi Melodic Hard Rock record plenty of melody but balanced by strong riffs and a rocking vibe. Jessen is a very good composer and arranger too, and having Goran Edman at the mic makes the difference.
Production is ex-cel-lent, brilliant, crisp, punchy… I believe Edman’s wonderful vocals does not came out this crystal clear in years.
“Memories” is terrific mixture of loud guitars and some very melodic songs, blending into mainstream, but distinct and recognizable, classic Melodic Hard Rock.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

01. Broken Heart
02. My Own Funeral
03. Everything Comes To An End
04. Blackwater
05. The Rose
06. Runaway
07. Prisoner
08. Dreams Die Hard
09. Lost In L.A.
10. Freefall

Michael Jessen – Guitars
Göran Edman – Vocals
Christoffer Hoaas – Bass
Mads Grunnet – Drums
John Norum (Europe) – guest guitar solo on 4
Morten Dybro – guest piano on 7

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