Frontback
Heart of a Lion

When I first heard this new album by Frontback I was ready to bring forth the Hallowed big book of superlatives. However, it turns out that whoever wrote the press material for this album had stolen it, and it was probably for the best because the second time is way worse than the first. The press sheet claims that this Sweden’s coolest rock band and that they have the world’s coolest vocalist – really? Did I get the wrong album? No the songs sounds like they have the listed titles and the band is fronted by a female and everything so I can just conclude that the press material writer is exaggerating just a bit.

It is catchy hard rock music with energy and pretty good female vocals, even though I would not claim that the singer is the coolest or the best I have heard. The music is quite infectious at first go and then it becomes like an infection that you want to get rid off. It is too repetitive and you start feeling it the second time you play through it, it just goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on again, and again. So it is both easy to take in and easy to grow tired with, it is fortunate that the album isn’t longer than it is.

For those who like simple and energetic hard rock it is probably a treat but don’t expect to be playing it on and on again as the repetitive nature is quite detrimental to an otherwise very strong album. To me it feels a bit like an opportunity lost, like they waste a good album by not being able to say, “300 repeats of the chorus is enough we shouldn’t do 500’000 as that is just too much”. Maybe it is a product of the time where we in the richer part of the world has way more than we need and don’t want to loose any of it – that might be it.

Frontback’s second album is a good one to listen to once every now and then but it has a big problem with longevity and it would not have hurt it to have a really strong hit song as well. The problem is that a repetitive chorus is a poor recipe if you want to make something that will go down in time as a strong hit song. This album is good but it just goes on and on and on.

HHHHHHH