{"id":21112,"date":"2014-05-23T00:00:06","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T00:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=21112"},"modified":"2014-08-06T01:52:37","modified_gmt":"2014-08-06T01:52:37","slug":"album-review-sonic-station-next-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-sonic-station-next-stop\/","title":{"rendered":"SONIC STATION – Next Stop (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SONIC STATION
Next Stop<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nAvenue Of Allies (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Like a lot of contemporary AOR bands, Swedish sextet Sonic Station have their heads very much buried in that summery, late night style of 80s rock. Y\u2019know the sort: easy on the ears, gorgeously melodic, soft to the touch, fluffy throughout and anthemic. It\u2019s a style of music that has never really died out \u2013 a lull in one country proving to be a gain for another with such instant tunes mesmerising millions.<\/p>\n

Okay, so the 80s was the<\/em> era for such glorious harmonies, and some acts could be accused of simply trying to mimic an era that is still being graced by its original, irreplaceable stars, but I\u2019ve yet to hear a contemporary act suffering at the hands of mimicry because usually the songs are so darn good.<\/p>\n

Sonic Station are another top-notch, pleasant sounding combo who have just released their second album, Next Stop<\/em>, which was promoted by the digital single \u2018Amelia\u2019 and showcasing the effortless, dreamy vocals of Johan Boding, who takes lead on eight of the ten tracks here.<\/p>\n

Beginning with \u2018Amelia\u2019 we\u2019re treated to a breezy, laid-back type of joint that has just enough pace to tickle the ears and made all the more spacious by the licks of guitarist Alexander Kronbrink, who takes the melody of the song to new heights. But it\u2019s a song, and an album pretty much summed up by a certain set of lyrics spouted by Boding. \u201cSmooth as a summer breeze, hot like a burning fire, you\u2019ll put yourself at ease\u201d<\/em> is a gorgeous line of positivity accompanied by the sumptuous backing vocals of Marika Willstedt, while the track is driven by the percussion of Thorleif Robertsson and the keyboards of Jonathan Fritz\u00e9n.<\/p>\n

Like so many contemporary AOR albums there is a rich list of guest appearances too with the album boasting five sets of backing vocalists throughout, while Marika Willstedt takes lead on the throbbing gallop of \u2018Brighter After Dark\u2019, the slow-building \u2018Where Are You Now\u2019 \u2013 with its easy-going, lounge-like tinkle and plod \u2013 plus my favourite track on the opus, closer \u2018Hide And Seek\u2019 with its swirling opening and powerful, dramatic chorus.<\/p>\n

But Next Stop<\/em> has so much to offer in the melodic stakes, and it\u2019s certainly far from being a sugary rock opus. Although the likes of \u2018Catch Me if You Can\u2019 offer a harder edge, there\u2019s a sultry pop jerk to \u2018Stopped Beating\u2019, while \u2018Fool For Your Love\u2019 is a beautiful ballad built around a lush piano arrangement.<\/p>\n

As a composer, Alexander Kronbrink \u2013 who also provides those majestic synths \u2013 appears second to none at the moment, effortlessly carving out a batch of momentous tunes that should appeal to music fans around the world. Whether it\u2019s stunning love songs or tenser episodes of melody and extravagance, Kronbrink is the sort of musician who should be attracting the attention of big names because with the team he\u2019s assembled here, Next Stop<\/em> is a truly delightful spoonful of AOR that boasts some of the best talent Sweden has to offer.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SONIC STATIONNext Stop Avenue Of Allies (2014)Rating: 8\/10 Like a lot of contemporary AOR bands, Swedish sextet Sonic Station have their heads very much buried in that summery, late night style of 80s rock. Y\u2019know the sort: easy on the ears, gorgeously melodic, soft to the touch, fluffy throughout and anthemic. It\u2019s a style of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1363],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-sonic-station"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21112"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21118,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21112\/revisions\/21118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}