“Amberian Dawn are reaching an ultimate career high with their eighth studio album,Looking For You. Refined and immaculate songwriting full of catchy melodies and epic keyboard passages sends shivers down your spine on their first single, "United.” Naplam Records clearly have high hopes of Looking for You given that level of hyperbole and there's lots to like on the album. It's probably not the most Sea of Tranquility friendly album ever released. It's possibly the cheesiest keyboard driven platter I have heard for a very long time, the drums sound like they have been lifted for novelty disco records from the early 80s such as Teena Marie's Feels Like I'm in Love and in may ways it's about as progressive as Hootie and the Blowfish or S Club7. What it is though, is a great deal of fun.
The absolutely most obvious reference point for Looking for You is ABBA. If you can't stomach the idea of ABBA blended with pop metal solos as exemplified best by "Eternal Burning Fire" then this album is not for you. Not in the slightest. Apparently the band even used some of ABBA's old equipment and used Benny Andersson's studio in the making of Looking for You. If European pop metal with enormous hooks floats your boat then step inside. Now.
For the most part this is the happy-clappy-smiliest album not made by Freedom Call for many a year then part way through Antonín Dvořák appears to take over as an influence for a while and brings along Fabio Lione to help out and a vaguely progressive wig out ensues before ABBA take over again and in "Go for a Ride" and "Butterfly" there's two songs which have dogged my every moment for the last few days. Just in case the listener wasn't paying attention there's a cover of ABBA's "Lay All Your Love on Me" to really ram home what's what.
I'm going to give this one 4 stars but can absolutely understand why others might give it much less and I'm not sure that the songs have lasting endurance. I'll let you know after the summer �" if it ever arrives in the UK.
Track Listing: 1) United
2) Eternal Fire Burning
3) Looking for You
4) Two Blades
5) Symphony Nr. 1 Part 3 - Awakening (Feat. Fabio Lione)
6) Go for a Ride
7) Butterfly
8) Universe
9) Lay All Your Love on Me (ABBA Cover)
10) Au Revoir
11) Cherish My Memory Re-Mastered (Bonus track)
Added: February 15th 2020 Reviewer:Simon Bray Score: Related Link:Band Website Hits: 1026 Language: english
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