Nubian Rose
Mental Revolution

If you have read the review of this band’s debut from 2012 you will know all about Nubia, Egyptian roses, girls, and what have you. If not, I suggest you start there. The band is back with their second album called Metal Revolution a title which means the same in Swedish and English meaning that I could not translate it into something amusing. So there you go, a boring title but there are redeeming features in a sexy looking cover. And the last album was well received by our reviewer last time so that could be raising expectations as well, but then I look at the song titles and kind of feel ill, why does all of these bands making classic hard rock insist on writing such daft lyrics? But let us not be down on them because of that kind of lack of imagination because the lack of words might be just that, they may still be very impressive coming to the musical side of things. And they are if we are to believe the promotion, they bring a new spirit to the classical melodic hard rock. Grande words but do they deliver on those promises?

Well, the first track bears a striking resemblance to the Rainbow song Spotlight Kid from 1981, that much for the promise of a new spirit to the genre. There are of course the obligatory songs there, the ballad, the speedy one, the anthem, the production is modern and the songs ancient and unaltered. Not even the female vocals are a novelty these days considering that many bands use a female vocalist these days, some even use attractive ones. Thing is that there is nothing that feels exciting, fresh or innovative about this album, it is a typical collection of songs for a melodic rock album. That much for new spirit due to the magnetic charisma and majestic vocals of Lilja and the unique guitar talents of Åkerlund. I didn’t notice those when listening to this album, perhaps she had some charisma in the otherwise boring music video they had for the song Break Out.

Sofia Lilja has a pretty good voice, she does pack a lot of punch in it anyway. However, she also has a tendency to come up with a voice that sounds annoying at times, which is a bit of a downer for me. Though, I would say that it is a good album overall. It is powerful, not too long with its 47 minutes of playing time and it will appeal to the nostalgic as it delivers all that which has been delivered by melodic hard rock bands for all eternity. I think they miss out on their potential with this album, by only doing the tried and tested they paint themselves into a corner and by doing so they never really take the chance to go out and smell the roses, something that might have triggered their imagination some and in the end could have led to a much more exciting album. They have potential and they do some good things on the album but I don’t think it is exciting enough to stand out in the saturated music market of today.

Mental Revolution is hardly revolutionary and will probably never be remembered or held on someone’s top-list of 2014. That being said I could add that it is still good and it is a good 47 minute distraction. The question is wether or not I will even remember that I did review this album when their next album shows up in the email some years from now.

No song stand out much for me, the opening nod towards Spotlight Kid is probably the best on the album but no track really stands above the rest and none is particularly memorable. It is just one of those albums that will be forgotten sooner rather than later and one that I will not remember when the year is to be summarised. But to conclude the stories I would suggest that those of you who are fans of female fronted rock music and nostalgic rock take a while to smell the rose before throwing it away. If roses aren’t your forte I would suggest that you don’t even bother, there are many better flowers out there.

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