Midway
Low Life

Swedish band Midway returns with a new album a year and a half after their debut from last year. An album that didn’t impress me much but despite this the band thanked me for that review and asked me to write about this new album as well – and I did write about it, and it was immediately clear to me that this was a distinct step forward for them. The new album called Low Life has much more energy, better sound and better songs; it is simply better than the debut.

In terms of style it is the same kind of melodic hardrock/metal, often called sleaze that is what the band does. Clearly inspired by hardrock of the past they burst out stating that they want to feel like they are living, and judging by their musical energy they sure do. The vocalist sings in the higher vocal ranges for most of the time and does it really well, the variation of the album is quite big and this album is far less predictable than their debut album and also compared with the genre in general.

It is a strong album in any regard and I don’t think it has any real weaknesses, the songs are all good and I would say that there is hit potential in all of them. The opening song Right Now is a great opening song and probably the best song on this album, I also think Love is Just a Night Away is an extra memorable one. But all the tracks are good, even though I think they should move the title track a bit further back in the track list as I don’t think it quite fits together with the opening track – just as small niggle and nothing you will think about unless you are really analysing the album.

I think that on tour they will really feel like they are living when playing these songs and they will probably set the world on fire. It has been an enjoyable album to listen to and it sort of made me think about what a hit or miss thing it has to be to make album of a very familiar style, you might not really fail miserably but it is easy to make something very predictable and not very interesting, like Midway’s debut. Then, when successful you can make something great, something like this when I as a critic can just bow and tip my hat and say: Midway, this album is great!

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