BAD BARON – The Early Years: 2021-2021 (2022)
BAD BARON from Finland are presenting themselves with ”The Early Years: 2021-2021”. Big hair, even bigger hooks, and musical skills that we all thought went out of fashion in 1991 – Bad Baron are bringing here their proudly non-unique brand of glam metal to us.
You might be tempted to assume that you’ve come across yet another Scandinavian sleaze band, following a path well-trodden over the past few years by bands like Crashdïet, Santa Cruz and Reckless Love. But you’d be wrong. Bad Baron don’t mess around with genre crossovers, current mainstream elements or any kind of ‘modern touch’ – they simply bring you the pure, unadulterated ’80s rock that you crave.
And they have a cool sense of humor too: ”The Early Years: 2021-2021” title is a fun joke, as ‘the early years’ compiles all the singles the band has released past year since formed in 2020.
Leading BAD BARON is 2020 Voice Of Finland contestant Lauri Huovinen, who cut his teeth playing in bands in the wintry northern city of Oulu. Swirling guitar solo duties are handled by Tommy Widdow, and Sammy South keeps the beat with the (very) occasional drum solo. Of course, no hair metal band would be complete without a keytar or two, so the guys flew in British keyboardist Alex Kron to add those all-important synths.
‘I’m a massive fan of the AOR and glam metal that came out of the 80s,’ says Lauri. ‘Whitesnake, Ratt, Danger Danger and so on, so it was amazing to find people who want to make that kind of music as much as I do.’
Opener “Sweet Talker” is a smooth, insistent, keyboard driven track that is probably quite rightly the lead-off single. There are of course elements of Europe and even a smattering of Danger Danger throughout the song, a finely played tune with an infectious chorus that should serve them well on most classic rock radio outlets.
“Sky High” follows with its faintly ludicrous space travel lyrics and, once again, an even more obvious nod to Europe and its familiar “The Final Countdown” opening.
The midtempo ballad “End This Way” is a very good ’80s style song with Widdow’s guitar and South’s fine drum backbeat adding gravitas to Kron’s always prominent keyboard and the consistently solid vocals of Lauri, making it my personal favourite song on the EP.
“Lost In The Night” runs it fairly close in that stake, adding a slight Survivor feeling in both the overall delivery but certainly in the lyrical department.
The closing track is a “sweet version” of the single “Sweet Talker” that is nicely tinkled on the piano with an emotive vocal performance, showcasing Kron and Huovinen’s obvious talents.
Bad Baron acquit themselves admirably as a whole creating their own Scandi version of classic ’80s melodic rock / AOR, with songs ticking the right boxes for the genre and the right, needed production for the genre.
Can’t wait for the full length album.
Highly Recommended
01 – Sweet Talker
02 – Sky High
03 – End This Way (Does It Really Have To)
04 – Lost In The Night
05 – Sweet Talker (Sweet Version)
Lauri Huovinen – vocals
Tommy Widdow – guitar
Sammy South – drums
Alex Kron – keyboards
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