{"id":46821,"date":"2014-11-10T07:07:15","date_gmt":"2014-11-10T12:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=46821"},"modified":"2014-11-10T07:07:15","modified_gmt":"2014-11-10T12:07:15","slug":"state-of-salazar-all-the-way-music-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/state-of-salazar-all-the-way-music-review\/","title":{"rendered":"State of Salazar | All the Way<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"StateWhat is it with Swedish bands and the Toto-worship? The Swedes have always led the rest of the world in melodic rock, but lately they’ve cornered the market on Toto’s brand of \u201cWest Coast\u201d AOR. The latest band to take this ultra-polished soft rock approach is Malmo-based State of Salazar, who recently released their full-length debut All the Way<\/em> on the Frontiers label. <\/p>\n

Much like Sonic Station and especially Work of Art, State of Salazar takes their basic approach from Toto, but also display a clear love for Survivor and Journey. The first thing you notice about All the Way is Marcus Nygren’s incredibly warm and powerful vocal performance. His voice is very reminiscent of the late Jimi Jamison and Fergie Fredericksen (RIP to both), as well as Pride of Lions’ Toby Hitchcock. His soaring voice and the vocal harmonies really steal the show. Further spins will reveal the high caliber musicianship as well as the brilliantly crafted, executed and produced melodic rock State of Salazar has to offer.<\/p>\n

The whole album is about as smooth and polished as AOR gets, but there are some songs that stand out. Leadoff single \u201cI Believe In You\u201d is the perfect example of State of Salazar’s sound, and \u201cAdrian,\u201d \u201cLove Of My Life\u201d and the title track ought to completely win over most Toto fans.<\/p>\n

In any other year, All the Way<\/em> would have been the top AOR album. This year saw Work of Art elevate the genre in an unforgettable way with Framework though, so State of Salazar has to settle for second place. It’s still an outstanding AOR album though, and one that fans of both the classic bands \u2013 Toto, Survivor, Harlequin \u2013 and the newer breed \u2013 Work of Art, Lionville, Sonic Station \u2013 will quickly come to love.<\/p>\n

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

Band:
\nMarcus Nygren (v)
\nJohan Thuresson (g)
\nStefan Martenson (k)
\nJohannes Hansson (b)
\nKristian Brun (d)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\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<\/p>\n

Website: www.facebook.com\/stateofsalazar<\/a><\/p>\n

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

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist — What is it with Swedish bands and the Toto-worship? The Swedes have always led the rest of the world in melodic rock, but lately they’ve cornered the market […]<\/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-46821","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\/46821","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=46821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46821\/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=46821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}