{"id":48556,"date":"2015-03-03T22:05:49","date_gmt":"2015-03-04T03:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=48556"},"modified":"2015-03-03T22:05:49","modified_gmt":"2015-03-04T03:05:49","slug":"nubian-rose-mental-revolution-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2015\/nubian-rose-mental-revolution-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Nubian Rose | Mental Revolution<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"NubianSwedish Melodic Hard Rockers Nubian Rose returned at the close of 2014 with their second album, titled Mental Revolution<\/em>. It’s the follow-up to their 2012 debut Mountain<\/em>, and once again features the vocal talents of powerhouse singer Sofia Lilja alongside guitar wizard Christer Akerlund.<\/p>\n

It’s not exactly unusual to find a Melodic Hard Rock that features a female vocalist. What is unusual is to find one with a vocalist this powerful. Lilja brings real power and emotion to these songs, and follows the the footsteps of singers like Sandy Saraya and Ann Wilson. There’s nothing dainty about her vocal performance here. Of course it helps that she’s belting out songs that are written to have as much hard rocking punch as they have catchy melodies. Akerlund’s guitar hooks are razor sharp, and perfectly play off Lilja’s vocals. It’s very easy to imagine the songs on Mental Revolution<\/em> being just as effective in the hands of bands like Hardcore Superstar or H.E.A.T, though that may be the mark producer Tobias Lindell, who mixed the album, left on it.<\/p>\n

It’s not quite a Sleaze Rock record like what Hardcore Superstar or Crashdiet would do, but Nubian Rose is definitely worthy of inclusion alongside their fellow Swedish melodic hard rockers. They bring the hooks, the heavy rhythms and a very memorable vocal performance. For proof, sample the completely catchy, completely rocking \u201cBreak Out\u201d or \u201cTime Again.\u201d Even a slower song like \u201cYou Will Never Walk Alone\u201d carries a measure of power, like a good ballad should.<\/p>\n

Mental Revolution<\/em> is another rock-solid offering from a band that could become one of the best in the melodic rock scene. Fans of Swedish melodic rock definitely need to check out Nubian Rose, as should fans of powerful female-fronted rock bands like Saraya, Robin Beck, Annica and of course Heart.<\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nSofia Lilja (v)
\nChrister Akerlund (g)
\nHenrik Uhrbom (b)
\nTomas Weijnesjo (d)
\nTorbjorn Weijnesjo (g)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tWar
\n2.\tTime Again
\n3.\tIlluminated Within
\n4.\tThe Eye
\n5.\tTough Guys Don’t Dance
\n6.\tBreak Out
\n7.\tHigher
\n8.\tYou Will Never Walk Alone
\n9.\t(Taking This) Further
\n10.\tAll of Your Love<\/p>\n

Label: Limewire, Cargo Records<\/p>\n

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

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

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist — Swedish Melodic Hard Rockers Nubian Rose returned at the close of 2014 with their second album, titled Mental Revolution. It’s the follow-up to their 2012 debut Mountain, and […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":48557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12394],"tags":[9519,10892,2847,10891,9660],"class_list":{"0":"post-48556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2015","8":"tag-cargo-records","9":"tag-limewire","10":"tag-melodic-hard-rock","11":"tag-mental-revolution","12":"tag-nubian-rose"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48556","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=48556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}