Perpetual Etude
Now is the Time

To we really need a perpetual etude, Magnus Mild of Air Raid seems to think that as he created the band. A band that enlists members from bands like Dionysus, Shadowquest, Nation, etc. and they have released the debut album called Now is the Time. An always appropriate title, as there is no time like the present – at least not accessible. So, what about the album then? I read about bring guitar heroism of the eighties back, like it hasn’t been done to death already. The cover kind of explains what you can expect, some well-designed retro rock.

Classic guitar driven heavy rock with the sound of the eighties, think Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force, Alcatrazz, Europe, and more in that style. Strong choruses and melodies, like being transported back to the eighties but with more modern production. Classic eighties style singer as well, you can draw parallels to the likes of Jeff Scott Soto, Graham Bonnet, Joe Lynn Turner, and the guest vocalist Göran Edman – a good singer. Good sound, accessible, catchy, and straight to the point, the album is short as well and that is almost always a good thing.

Now is the Time is easy to like, it plays the nostalgia card, and it is built around good songs, what’s not to like? It is rather enjoyable, but there is a backside to all this nostalgic accessibility; it is a rather forgettable album as this has been done so many times before. I have written many times, either exceptional or original, and Perpetual is neither. A good distraction for a while but with the access to more music than we could listen to, why should we be satisfied with anything but the best? I mean this retro guitar hero stuff is being done much more brilliantly by Eclipse to name one Swedish band from the top of my head, and Eclipse already has several albums that are better than this one.

You can surely listen to this album both once and twice and like it, but it is still forgettable in the end, when you silence it, you forget it. Perhaps now is the time for something more exciting, something different. I like Perpetual Etude to some extent, but they need to do more if they want to be noticed.

HHHHHHH