THE AUTUMN BAND

It's a bit of breaking news in the underground circuits that Autumn Breeze is back on track. Over thirty years have passed since their eponymous album "Höstbris" saw the light of day. With that record forever cemented as a landmark of Swedish symphonic rock in the baggage the expectations on the new material are rather high. The most important question is of course, is the spirit of 1979 still here? And can they still deliver good rock music? Don't worry, of course they can! But they also have some new aces up their sleeves on this long, long awaited second album.

I would say that they are shooting in three different directions on this record, "Going down to Africa", "Mombasa" and "Gruba" have the smooth flavour of world music, mixed with latin funk, a winning concept and bands like Stardust International, Tequila and Hot Salsa comes to mind while listening, in these cuts they have definitely left the progressive rock sound of "Höstbris" and moved on to a more up to date world/jazz/funk sound.

Then there are three straight rockers "Until finished", "Fried eggs" and "Love me baby" all of these are more "in your face" than the average Autumn Breeze track, what they lack in originality they take back in energy, and there is a certain hit potential in some of the chorus lines.

The third part of this trinity of styles is the progressive/symphonic numbers "Life is just another day", "Schon Für Schasen", "Sorrow", "Rock´n roll madness" and "Massösen". "Life is just another day" (the first single from the album) is sheer magic, still within the Autumn Breeze formula but with a crystal sharp sound most worthy a 21 century rock band, and the new singer Linus Bornlöf does a fantastic soulful job with the vocals on this epic track. "Rock´n roll madness" is another brilliant piece which makes me think of the Travelling Wilburys song:"Tweeter and the monkeyman", although in a more trippy, organic mood and with the always outstanding flute to the fore. Also the voice of Gert Magnusson has matured in a very cool way, as today he sounds like a Swedish counterpart to Bob Dylan!

The most traditional Autumn Breeze styled tracks are definitely "Schon für Schasen" and "Massösen". I could be wrong but this must be two of the leftovers from the "Höstbris" era, and the interesting fact that Gert Nilsson (their original guitar player) has co- written "Massösen" may give us a clue in what direction the band had planned to go after the "Höstbris" release.This is the peak of the album in many ways and the organ/guitar work is just amazing, almost like Swedish krautrock, no other band has a sound like this!

All in all this release offers positive surprises, straight rockers and progressive anthems for the conservative I honestly hope that Autumn Breeze will reach a wider audience this time around, so we don't have to wait another thirty years for a third album!

Peter Wallgren October 2010

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