{"id":46631,"date":"2014-11-04T17:34:08","date_gmt":"2014-11-04T22:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=46631"},"modified":"2014-11-04T17:34:08","modified_gmt":"2014-11-04T22:34:08","slug":"state-of-salazar-all-the-way-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/state-of-salazar-all-the-way-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"State Of Salazar | All The Way<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"StateAlthough it\u2019s just their debut album that\u2019s hit the shelves this summer, State Of Salazar are a group of experienced and versatile musicians, skilful in both progressive pop and ska \u2013 and also, having learned their chops in Malm\u00f6 Academy of Music. Somehow, the quintet have managed to leave their different musical backgrounds behind for a while \u2013 all for the sake of melodic rock, as it\u2019s this very genre they\u2019ve found to be a common ground for them. The result of this interesting compromise \u2013 fueled with the band members\u2019 fascination with the late \u201870s and the early \u201880s pomp rock \u2013 is State Of Salazar\u2019s debut album All The Way<\/em>, released via Frontiers Records in August.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest inspirations cited by the band themselves is Toto, and it\u2019s certain Steve Lukather\u2019s band must have exerted a substantial influence over the Swedish group \u2013 think the perfectly crafted vocal harmonies in the first track \u201cI Believe In You,\u201d the Paich-esque keyboards in \u201cField Of Dreams,\u201d or the group\u2019s overall approach to melody and song structure. There\u2019s of course more to those Swedes than just following the path trod by Toto once, as exemplified by the third track on the album \u201cAll The Way\u201d that \u2013 all possible influences aside \u2013 brings a solid dose of early \u201880s pomp rock against some tasteful six string wizardry. With \u201cLove Of My Life\u201d, State Of Salazar bravely explore the ballad-esque territory, propounding what is perhaps typical and not much revelatory, but nevertheless a very neat piano-based ballad embellished with a wailing guitar tone. <\/p>\n

Next is \u201cEat Your Heart Out,\u201d another dynamic track much in vein of Journey of Toto from their classic era and, if had released thirty plus years earlier, also what would have been a serious candidate to top the AOR radio charts. It\u2019s intense pomp rock with a certain hit quality to it, groovy \u201870s keyboards and great vocals. \u201cTime To Say Goodbye\u201d gravitates a bit more towards what we think melodic rock is today, even though its synth-horn fanfare is, clearly and indisputably, \u201cso totally \u201880s\u201d. \u201cMarie\u201d continues in a similar retro-oriented manner, again a track that could have appeared on one of the best mid-\u201880s albums released by either Foreigner or Survivor (with no harm to their reputation). \u201cLet Me Love\u201d is another ballad, somewhat weaker in comparison with the first slow moment of the album \u2013 but possibly, if played live, it\u2019s going to gather a sea of snuggling couples in the audience anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cCatastrophe\u201d starts with an \u201880s-infused synth passage, developing into another catchy \u2013 if not infectious \u2013 melody the ninth track is laden with. And it\u2019s perhaps the band\u2019s immaculate harmonies that makes one think that, all the guitar-and-keyboard duels aside, it\u2019s the \u201cwall of sound\u201d vocals that are State Of Salazar\u2019s actual driving force. And isn\u2019t that a well-tried recipe for a classic AOR album? It\u2019s certainly a formula the Swedish band used while crafting their first piece, with Marcus Nygren belting out his lines in his emotionally-laden voice against the solid background vocals, as in \u201cAlways\u201d or sugary choruses of \u201cAdrian\u201d. The band\u2019s trademark harmonies are brought to light also in the last track on the album, a grandiose power ballad \u201cEnd Of Time\u201d which is a strong final point to the entire material.<\/p>\n

All The Way<\/em> is a bit more retro-oriented than other releases from Frontiers Records usually are and rarely wanders off the beaten track in pursuit of some more contemporary sound. It\u2019s more Toto and Asia than Work of Art or Brother Firetribe, although it\u2019s sure fans of every of the aforementioned acts will find something worth the attention on the Swedes\u2019 debut album. It\u2019s the keyboard-laden vintage sound of the early \u201880s many of us miss \u2013 even if some would rather die than admit it. Also, as you could have expected from a group of diligent students of the Academy Of Music, it\u2019s a high quality piece music-wise. Thus, in spite of more and more melodic rock-oriented bands emerging from all parts of the world now, let\u2019s hope that State Of Salazar won\u2019t end up lost in the midst of time \u2013 and also, that All The Way<\/em> is just the first of many great melodic rock releases the Swedes will treat us with.<\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic Rock, AOR<\/p>\n

Band:
\nMarcus Nygren – vocals
\nJohan Thuresson – guitar
\nStefan M\u00e5rtenson – keyboard
\nJohannes Hansson – bass
\nKristian Brun – drums<\/p>\n

Tracklist:
\n1.\tI Believe In You
\n2.\tField Of Dreams
\n3.\tAll The Way
\n4.\tLove Of My Life
\n5.\tEat Your Heart Out
\n6.\tTime To Say Goodbye
\n7.\tMarie
\n8.\tLet Me Love
\n9.\tCatastrophe
\n10.\tAlways
\n11.\tAdrian
\n12.\tEnd Of Time<\/p>\n

Label: Frontiers Records<\/p>\n

Website: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/stateofsalazar<\/a> – http:\/\/www.stateofsalazar.se<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Senior Columnist — Although it\u2019s just their debut album that\u2019s hit the shelves this summer, State Of Salazar are a group of experienced and versatile musicians, skilful in both progressive pop […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":46633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[10229,8939,2317,374,2901,10228],"class_list":{"0":"post-46631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-all-the-way","9":"tag-aor","10":"tag-cd-review","11":"tag-frontiers-records","12":"tag-melodic-rock","13":"tag-state-of-salazar"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}