One of my first hard rock LP's I bought
with my own money was my fellow countrymen
in 220 Volt's debut album from 1983. The
founders and original members Thomas
Drevin and Mats Karlsson still handle
the guitars together with the drummer
Peter Hermansson and they have recruited
the strong vocalist Anders Engberg
(ex-Therion, ex-Lions Share) to handle the job
at
the microphone. 220 Volt was founded
back in 1979 and was among the top hard
rock acts in Scandinavia during the
middle of the 80's. The band then went
on to release five albums between
1983-1988. A small reunion after the
bands first split in -92 resulted in the
album named 'Lethal Illusion' in
1997.
Together with Europe they
managed to grab my interest with their
debut albums. They are still my some of
my all time favourite albums. The age of
the members doesn't seem to be any problem
after my spins of this new album
'Walking in Starlight'. The first half
is extremely potent and they pile stiffer rock
with a heavier touch than I first expected. The
title track opens the album and 'Walking in
Starlight' is a mid tempo track with Anders soaring
vocals and very heavy guitars. Old fashion heavy
metal is the label on 'System Overload' with nice
groove and driven guitar riffs and a favourite of
mine.
Throwback hard rock is what you
get in the classic hard rocking track
'Broken Promises'. One of the best songs
on the album is 'Alive' with stunning
vocals and heavier drumming and razor
sharp guitars. 'Blind' is also a song in
the classic hard rock folder and has a
solid, heavy groovy rhythm. The strong
guitar fronted track 'Stranded' is one
of my favourites and Anders is singing
magnificent. In 'Get Me Out' the
sound is harder and the guitars sharper.
Sounds like an classic hard rock tune
from the glory days of the 80's.
does 220 volt delivering a stack of
melodic hard rock tunes in 'The Waiting', 'Through
the Wastelands' and 'Burning Heart', with flavors from
bands like: Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, Rainbow and
Lion Share.
This album is packed with quite
various rock hymns and 'Take a
Good Look' is a bluesy rock song and
'One Good Reason' is a sleaze rock track
with some slide guitars. The album ends
with the calm 'Guiding Light' and 220
Volt has done a fantastic come back.
A very nice disc.
Line up:
Anders Engberg – vocals
Thomas Drevin – guitars
Mats Karlsson – guitars
Peter Hermansson - drums
