Best AOR album 2016, Bronze Medal: THEANDER EXPRESSION – Wonderful Anticipation (2016)
Near the end of the year, it’s time to recap about the best 2016 releases, by category.
For 0dayrox, the Bronze Medal to the best AOR album of the year goes to THEANDER EXPRESSION’s “Wonderful Anticipation”.
“Wonderful Anticipation” is the much anticipated second release from Andrée Theander’s project THEANDER EXPRESSION, and follows the Swedish guitar player debut, critically acclaimed around the world of melodic rock.
Theander brings forth the quality melodic rock we’ve become accustomed to from the Scandinavian quarter over recent years and “Wonderful Anticipation” is such an apt title, because from the opener ‘Anticipation Anthem’, that’s what the listener is doing in spades, just waiting in anticipation for the next track, as this instrumental leads the way for the rest of the album to follow.
As the album unfolds the AOR infused Melodic Rock just oozes out from every pore of the CD, kicking off with ‘You Always Ran Away’, an up-tempo rocker that really shows of Theander’s vocals to the max. A real showcase track that sets the bar for the rest of the album.
Title track ‘Wonderful Anticipation’ is acut heading down the AOR road this time, with a soaring guitar and keyboards that we’ve become associated with the genre, but as with all the modern Scandinavian AOR, this sounds so fresh and very much in the now.
The tempo is picked up again with the excellent ‘Ms Trendy’, another track heading down the edgier Melodic Rock path, and that same vibe is continued with the rocking ‘Factoids and Fallacies’, before Theander mixes a touch of the blues and melody filled rock for ‘Into The Valley’.
It’s back to the pure Melodic Rock with the superb ‘Never Surrender’, which has that Danger Danger musical vibe about it, then it’s back across to the AOR for the stunning ‘The Loner’ and the equally impressive ‘Someday (I’ll Be There To Meet You)’.
We have a quite riff fuelled number in ‘On My Own’, before this superb album closes with the wonderful semi-acoustic ballad ‘State of Flow’.
Andrée has been producing and recording most of the album at his own studio, playing all the guitars. He also handled most of the bass and keyboard parts, some percussion, drum programming and vocals.
But there’s many star musicians from the genre featured on the album likee Herman Furin (Work Of Art), Bengan Andersson (Niva,), Kristofer von Wachenfeldt (Care Of Night), Björn Lundqvist (Sunstrike, Twilight Force), Christian Eriksson (Sunstrike, Twilight Force), Erik Mårtensson (Eclipse, W.E.T.), Sebastian Freij and Christoffer “Foffe” Särnefält.
The record was mixed and mastered by Thomas ‘Plec’ Johansson at Panic Room Studios at the end of 2015 and the result is another high class Melodic Rock / AOR record with classic melodies and a modern production, ready to hit the market in 2016.
If you thought THEANDER EXPRESSION debut was good, then you’re going to be blown away by “Wonderful Anticipation”. Released by AOR HEAVEN Records, it’s, simply put, one of the best Melodic Rock / AOR albums appeared in the last decade, as tick all the right boxes needed for this genre.
Awesome CD.
01 – Anticipation Anthem
02 – You Always Ran Away
03 – Wonderful Anticipation
04 – Ms. Tendy
05 – Factoids & Fallacies
06 – Into the Valley
07 – Never Surrender
08 – The Loner
09 – Someday (I’ll Be There to Meet You)
10 – On My Own
11 – State of Flow
Andree Theander (guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals)
Herman Furin (drums)
guests:
Herman Furin (Work of Art)
Bengan Andersson (NIVA, Johan Randén)
Kristofer von Wachenfeldt (Care of Night)
Björn Lundqvist (Sunstrike, Twilight Force)
Christian Eriksson (Sunstrike, Twilight Force)
Erik Martensson (Eclipse, W.E.T)
Sebastian Freij and Christoffer “Foffe” Särnefält
BUY IT !
www.amazon.co.uk/Wonderful-Anticipation-Theander-Expression
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