Xorigin | State of the Art
by Nikiforos Skoumas
Staff Writer
Having such monster bands as Journey, Def Leppard and Whitesnake under one’s roster and yet providing a newcomer act with the opportunity of debuting on the very same label is no small favor.
State of the Art is the debut album by Swedish-Norwegian melodic rock project Xorigin. As with many ‘Frontiers’ projects of the past Xorigin features household names of the Scandinavian AOR scene. Essentially, the project is built around vocalist Johannes Stole and guitarist Daniel Pamqvist, better known as a member of the female fronted symphonic AOR group The Murder of my Sweet. Incredibly multi-instrumentalist Robert Sall (Work of Art, WET) lays keyboards while also co-writing three of the songs on the album. Drums are contributed by Murder of my Sweet mastermind Daniel Flores, who also captures, mixes and masters this debut effort.
So a closer look at Xorigin leaves one with the impression that this is quite a melodic project, automatically raising expectations regarding the quality of State of the Art. Therefore one needs to make clear that State of the Art does not match artistically either Work of Art or The Murder of my Sweet. Having said that, State of the Art is a quality melodic rock album that will hardly disappoint fans of the genre.
Songwriting-wise the project makes substantial use of keyboard contributing beyond harmonies and melodic lines, various effects (which could be deemed rather unnecessary depending on how strict a critic one is). The guitars are thickly produced though not ever-present. Stole sound very much like the AOR side of Ted Poley, baring similar tone and vocal style.
”Crying for you” is bound to bring to mind the classic AOR hymn “Crying” by Jeff Paris while “Too Late” sounds as if taken directly from the latest Work of Art album. One also finds protestant rockers in “This Is It” and “Can’t Keep Running” which seem to portray best the musical identity of Xorigin.
Overall Xorigin is a quality melodic rock album combining musical elements from highly acclaimed bands of the genre-though not quite succeeding in establishing a firm artistic identity of its own. For fans of the artists and projects mentioned above, State of the Art is a guarantee, provided that one does not expect of the project to stand toe to toe with any of those acts.
Genre: Melodic Rock
Band:
Johannes Stole – Vocals
Daniel Palmqvist – Guitar
Track List:
1. Can’t Keep Running
2. Crying For You
3. In The Blink Of An Eye
4. Too Late
5. Gina
6. This Is It
7. The One For Me
8. Said And Done
9. Matters To The Heart
10. What Love Is All About
11. Mend My Heart
Label website: http://www.frontiers.it/
Hardrock Haven rating: 8/10