CAPTAIN BLACK BEARD – Neon Sunrise (2022) HQ

“Neon Sunrise” is the upcoming new album form Swedish AOR rising stars CAPTAIN BLACK BEARD, their first with Mighty Music. Grown out in the melodic era of the ’80s, with more than ten years in the music business, the band turned some heads with its last album ‘Sonic Forces’ and a new-found classy, ‘disco-inspired’ AOR.
A fascinating mix of the new blood from the new Scandinavian melodic rock wave and classic, retro ’80s culture, “Neon Sunrise” takes the best of the current sound with the timeless melodies of fun music. This is like a cocktail of Brother Firetribe, Nitrate and Night Flight Orchestra, and they hit their mark with this fresh album.

Kicking things off is ‘Flamenco’, a high-octane song about getting away from it all, it features a smoking solo that starts unassuming then grows in intensity before exploding back into the bridge and chorus. The guitar partnership of Christian Ek and Daniel Krakowski keeps things nicely on the harder edge of the AOR spectrum, with tracks like this opener really benefitting from the two axe option offers.
‘We’re The Forgiven’ is next and keeps things interesting with a chorus that at times drops the string instruments to emphasize the drums and keys, bringing power and urgency in the process. It shakes up a song that could have been otherwise basic and routine in its approach.

Track 3 is first single ‘Physical’. The song is well constructed and fits it with the overall energy the album is producing, but I do not think it should have been released as a single. I found the lyrics to be a little silly (“Are you physical enough to retain my heart”?) and there are better songs to be found on the album.
One of those better songs is ‘Wasted Heart’. As of this review it has not been released as a single and it would be a mistake by the label if it is not. An absolute winner with choral vocables to sing along to, its anthemic power chords and underlying keyboard melody is everything you would want from melodic rock.

‘Chains of Love’ is another track that has single potential and features an AOR-style keyboard melody line along with some stylistic wordplay in the chorus, with its repeats of the word “locked’ in a rhythmic fashion that makes the listener have no choice but to sing along to its infectious sway. A highlight.
Another song that stood out to me among all the great melodies was ‘Burning Daylight’. While not the song with the fastest melody, I did appreciate its use of double bass playing, a drum choice that is usually reserved for Metal songs. Here it adds a stark differential between parts of the song that are more AOR sounding and parts that kick into an almost Metal feel. Different and good!

Something I was surprised to not find included was a ballad. The closest to one is penultimate track ‘State of Denial’, a mid-tempo tune with a beautiful harmonic chorus that feels almost like a ballad by default as there’s a consistent burst of energy running throughout the album with a slight slowdown here.
There are a few things here that could have made the album a little better. ‘Moment of Truth’ delivers some high-energy, but the tempo is a tad too fast. The band seems like it is trying to get to the end of the song as quickly as possible.
Even a song like ‘Night Reaction’, an open the throttle and gun it rocker, could have benefited from reigning in the speed ever so slightly.

CAPTAIN BLACK BEARD is a band that has that unmistakable ’80s rock sound that could have been huge if this material were released back then.
From front to back, these Swedes have come up with a joyous celebration of everything that was great about rock in the Eighties on ”Neon Sunrise”; not only that, they manage to avoid the pitfalls of cliche that many acts operating in this area fall foul of, preferring instead to simply let their immensely talented songwriting do the talking.
Minor quips aside, this is an anthemic drenched powerhouse of an album, with incredible appeal to fans of the unique decade. I can never get enough of stuff like this.
Highly Recommended

01 – Flamenco
02 – We’re The Forgiven
03 – Physical
04 – Moment Of Truth
05 – Wasted Heart
06 – Night Reaction
07 – Chains Of Love
08 – Burning Daylight
09 – Break (Into Forever)
10 – Invincible
11 – State Of Denial
12 – Neon Sunrise

Martin Holsner – vocals
Christian Ek – guitar
Daniel Krakowski – guitar
Robert Majd – bass
Vinnie Stromberg – drums

Pre order:
www.amazon.co.uk/Neon-Sunrise-Captain-Black-Beard/dp/B0BB5QTXJT