CHRIS ROSANDER – King Of Hearts (2020)
To be released tomorrow via AOR Heaven Records, “King Of Hearts“ is the debut of 22-year-old (!) Swede CHRIS ROSANDER who obviously got a great early musical education as nowadays probably not many youngsters write and record songs in the finest TOTO or ’80s AOR fashion.
Add to his delivery some H.E.A.T., STREET TALK, TOMMY DENANDER’s RADIOACTIVE and even some THE OUTFIELD. Wow, this genre will never die with young musicians of this quality.
Since he was 14 years old, Christian Rosander has been writing songs in the AOR/Melodic and Westcoast genre. To be fair you’d been pretty certain the music on here is AOR friendly due to a) the label, and b) the album title which is also the name of a highly revered band in the AOR / melodic rock world.
He states: ”The recording of this album is a journey that began back in the autumn of 2017 when I was still studying at college. My roots emerge from the Classic Rock/Hard Rock & Metal genres but when it came to writing my own songs, I’ve always been drawn to the Westcoast/AOR/Melodic Rock genre.
During my time at school, all I did was practicing, especially jazz standards. Somewhere along the way, I started to put more jazzier chords and harmonies into my songs, and that’s how I discovered my sound. The first song I wrote for this album was ‘Can’t Let Go’, the rest of the tracks came as the time passed by.”
It always warms the cockles of an aging melodic rock fan that youngsters still discover and enjoy this type of music. Christian Rosander certainly knows his way around a memorable riff and chorus, as opener ‘Online’ proves. Plenty of keys/synths too to keep the air keyboard fans amongst us happy!
‘Don’t Look Back’ comes across as a mix of 980s Toto and H.E.A.T. His keyboard playing and guitar riffs are impressive on this, and indeed the whole album.
Toto influences can be heard throughout the album, including the title track which features an impressive guitar solo.
An accomplished debut, certainly one that will appeal to lovers of keyboard-led classic ’80s Scandinavian AOR / melodic rock.
Oh, and did I mention the keys on this album? Parptastic!
HIGHLY Recommended
01. Online
02. She’s A Killer
03. Don’t look Back
04. Angelina
05. Can’t Let Go
06. Could This Be Love
07. Price of Love
08. Only For The Night
09. Crossroads
10. King of Hearts
11. No Destination
Christian Rosander – vocals, keyboards, guitars, drums
P-O Sedin (Perfect Plan) – bass
Anton Frengen – guest guitar solo on 10
PRE ORDER:
www.aorheaven.com/index.php/englisch_b/rosander-chris-king-of-hearts.html
