C.O.P.
State of Rock

Well, how can you avoid making law-related puns coming to this band and their criminally catchy and traditional AOR? The answer is that you cannot. Not even the press sheet shy away from that sort of thing mentioning arresting songs, smash and grab choruses and captivating musicianship, and why not? It is funny that there is some distance to it; music isn’t really a serious business in the grander scheme of things. The cover art reminds me of a policeman’s badge in a state where the cops are more known for killing innocent people than for the job they actually do – that is also what this album does, killing any doubt whether or not you will find this album enjoyable.

In the press sheet it is said that most great rock music can be boiled to a three letter word like G ‘N R, R ‘N’ R. AOR or – as in this case – C.O.P. I would almost call that criminal negligence; Styx, Toto, Journey, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin, Saga and an overwhelming majority of great rock music cannot be boiled down into three letters, not even four or less. And negligence, ignorance or forgetfulness of the law is not a valid excuse to avoid prosecution for this three letter combination that hides Christian, Ola and Peter from Sweden. All competent AOR-people with excellent singer Peter who I really enjoyed in Grand Illusion and who has wowed many fans of the genre with his great high pitched voice – and the vocals on this album does not disappoint.

I also think guitarist and producer Ola has brought out a great sound and the songs are brilliant as well, Christian is the man behind the compositions which he does very well. But, there is one sneaking suspicion that he has borrowed many melodies and structures from other songs that has graced the genre over the years. That is the weakness of the album the lack of originality, if you like to hear the same kind of AOR all the time I am sure you will be absolutely blown away by this album from the Foreigner-esque opener to the end. A critic however has to be the judge in a different way and as much as I like this album I cannot shake off the sensation of déjà vu that I get when I hear this album for the first time – I recognise it all, from the take-no-prisoners opener Loner to the last track, feel like I’ve heard it before. This is not something I want to beat too much about though considering that this is a general condition for the music business today – the lack of imagination is sometimes painful. This is too good to be painful though and if you are a fan of the genre I think you will enjoy it.

If I say AOR like from the great periods by Foreigner, Journey, Toto, Grand, Grand Illusion and a whole lot more classic AOR-acts, I am sure you can form the correct impression of how it sounds. It is a high quality album in all regards even though I would have liked to think a bit less of terms like déjà vu considering that it means that they are changing things in The Matrix while I listen to the album and it has to be said that it is a worrying amount of changes going on. Maybe it is time for that pill and the journey down the rabbit hole, but not before getting another dose of déjà vu from arresting songs and captivating choruses. I like the album but cannot really overlook the fact that it offers nothing new to the state of rock and that is an argument that weighs very heavily in the Hallowed court. It illustrates the state of rock today, and fans of AOR should not miss it – that is the ruling of this supreme court of the state of rock.

HHHHHHH