Crowne: Operation Phoenix

Something of an AOR supergroup (not a new thing for the Frontiers label!), Crowne are made up of members from the current crop of Swedish melodic rock stars (Dynazty, H.e.a.t., Art Nation) plus some of that country’s more ‘mature’ bands (The Poodles, Europe). Operation Phoenix is their sophomore effort; their debut was popular with the melodic rock crowd so I am sure this one will be too. To my ears, however, it’s all a bit slick and sterile, with each song having a similar format-largely up-tempo, fists-in-the-air melodic pomp rock with easy-to-sing-along-to choruses, usually having some decent riffs and guitar solos but swamped in sugary keyboards and rather blending in to each other. Vocalist Alexander Strandell has what is for me a rather nasally delivery, he can hit the notes but lacks soul, a criticism which could be made of the album as a whole. Barring the rather naff “Super Trooper� (not an Abba cover, but it definitely has a Eurovision feel!), the songs are all fine for what they are and fairly catchy whilst listening to them, but for me nothing sticks. I am sure there are plenty of fans of this style who will get something from this release but it’s not something I’ll be revisiting in the future.

Tracklist:
1. Operation Phoenix
2. Champions
3. In The Name Of The Fallen
4. Super Trooper
5. Ready To Run
6. Juliette
7. The Last Of Us
8. Just Believe
9. Roar
10. Victorious
11. Northern Lights

Added: February 18th 2023
Reviewer: Tom De Val
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
Hits: 1229
Language: english

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