December 22, 2020
Reviews
Wildness – Markus, Erik M, Erik F, Marcus, Pontus

It still baffles me as to why there are so many high quality bands coming from Scandinavia and there can be fewer areas of the planet that have produced so many bands with so many totally different styles from such small populations. Whatever the reason is and, after all, it is technically unimportant but it does mean that we have so many great bands now available to us. For sure, it is most definitely a hot bed of activity particularly in metal and melodic rock with Wildness being the latest quality AOR band Sweden.

Wildness began life as a studio project for drummer and songwriter Erik Modin but it soon developed into a fully functioning band when the singer Gabriel Lindmark and guitarists Adam Holmström and Pontus Sköld came onboard. Several session musicians came in on bass but it was another year before Marcus Sjösund joined in 2016 and the line-up was completed. A couple of singles were then released with the self-titled debut being released in 2017 and the pleasingly produced melodic rock album soon found many new friends. Since then, the band has been touring with lots of seriously good AOR bands and honing their skills in preparation for starting on the crucial second album with work commencing last year. However, this had to be suspended due to the departure of the vocalist Gabriel Lindmark for the oft-quoted ‘musical differences’ reason. Finally, in spring 2020 it was announced that the new singer would be Erik Forsberg (ex-Blazon Stone) and he has brought his own dynamic to the band to help make.

Ultimate Demise yet another highly enjoyable and hard rocking Swedish melodic rock album. Lindmark has a great soaring and powerful voice so suited to AOR and he can handle both the rockers and slower ballads with aplomb. The guitar work of Adam Holmström and Pontus Sköld is exemplary and thrilling with the songs being typical melodic rock being hook filled and with great sing along choruses.

If you are a fan of the likes of Europe, Eclipse and H.E.A.T. then this is another band that you should check out.

Ultimate Demise track list

  1. Call Of The Wild (1:41)
  2. Die Young (4:11)
  3. Nowhere Land (4:20)
  4. Cold Words (4:37)
  5. Renegades Of Love (3:59)
  6. Falling Into Pieces (4:47)
  7. Burning It Down (4:22)
  8. My Hideaway (4:41)
  9. Denial (4:13)
  10. Borderline (5:40)
  11. The Ultimate Demise (4:24)
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Author: Terry Craven

A former reviewer and member of the Classic Rock Society having been involved since its early days. .Enjoys virtually all forms of music but first real love is Progressive Rock. Top three band, in no particular order, are Pink Floyd, Rush and the mighty Judas Priest.