Review AUTUMN’S CHILD ‘Zenith’

Autumn’s Child is a band, being the brainchild of Swedish musician Mikael Erlandsson. The one or the other might be familiar with the name, thinking about Erlandsson’s days with Phenomena and Secret Service. Another milestone is Last Autumns Dream, a band he founded together with Fair Warning guitarist And Malecek. After 14 longplayers released, the band put the brakes on, the moment for Elandsson to start Autumn’s Child. Considering all this, clearly indicates that Erlandsson isn’t a rookie at all and in contrary, has a long track record when it comes to melodic rock music.

‘Zenith’ is the third record, the Swede releases and it comes with an eleven songs featuring tracklist. Together with band members and some guests, the album lasers in on AOR-laden music, songs that are vital as well as the come with a melody that catches your attention, if you want it or not. ‘Evangeline’ is such a song that comes with hooks that definitely do their job as well as the song never drowns in cliché. Even songs like ‘Never Say Die’ with its pop-appeal are still well-crafted rock hymns that doesn’t cause earache and isn’t sticky sweet. Instead it is the positive vibe that swings with each of the melody lines, a spirit that makes you forget the grey days of winter for a while.

The rock’n’roll beast gets unchained by ‘Crowdpleaser’ and the next tune ‘Don’t Wanna’ picks up the rock’n’roll spirit too. These two tracks are real energizers on an album that doesn’t include a real ballad. Of course, there are calmer songs like ‘Damaged Goods’ and ‘Nightingale’ doesn’t belong to the loudest tracks on the album either. However, each of the songs never stays in a cliché-laden ballad pattern. Like many artists and bands from Sweden, also Erlandsson knows exactly, how he wants Autumn’s Child to sound like and equipped with good understanding for songwriting and a sense for catchy melodies, ‘Zenith’ became a good melodic rock album that finds the sweet spot between hard and melodic. Good music.