Sapphire Eyes
Magic Moments

The sapphire eyed Swedes return with their third album, one that looks all white and with a cover that can be described as pretty boring. Some might say simple and stylish, but it is dull. The previous two albums have been reviewed by us, we liked the debut from 2012 quite a bit but the second didn’t seem as impressive, perhaps due to it just copying what was done on the first. This new album is more of the same and doesn’t really take the band in any direction they haven’t already used.

This will be a familiar album to those knowing the predecessors, straightforward melodic rock with catchy choruses, very polished production, decent vocals and a strict adherence to the elements of the AOR genre. The selection of tracks isn’t really a surprise either, the fact is that it isn’t many surprises on this album; you get what you expect, no more and no less. The imagination could have been better, but the craftsmanship is fine as illustrated both by the songs that are easy to like and the sensible playing time. Craftsmen rather than artists is probably the best way to describe the band, they know how the AOR should sound and they make it so.

I don’t believe that this album will spin in my record player after this review is finished. The music and the songs are just fine, but it isn’t an album that makes a lasting impression, it just does what it is expected to do and hence it will probably both be celebrated in reviews and by fans. But looking more critically, it is hard to see that it makes some that can be described as memorable or exciting; it is stuff we have heard before and the novelty doesn’t really exist. It is an album that caters to the needs of some fans and perhaps that is enough, I don’t doubt that internet reviewers will be impressed, and so will many fans.

If you like the melodic rock or AOR etiquette I wouldn’t doubt that this album will be impressive to you. Internet reviewers and fans will probably be as impressed as they usually are when they write about albums of a standard that we see at least once a week, every week. I am not as impressed as I would have liked more drama and more novelty, this album will be consigned to oblivion now that I put the final punctuation into this text.

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