Tag Archives: sweden

ABSENT FRIENDS: The Genuine Fakes

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In 2010 Real Gone gave coverage to a debut album by Swedish power pop sensations, The Genuine Fakes.   Like most sites, we found the album – although not perfect – had lots of lovable material and the band’s commercial potential was pretty big.

We heard little from them after that.  Kool Kat Records issued a hard copy of ‘The Striped Album‘ (previously only a download) and included a bonus disc.  Real Gone included a non-album track on our first full length sampler in December 2011.  …And then nothing.

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STATE OF SALAZAR – All The Way

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state of salazarAt a time when so many AOR albums seem to be constructed from predictable European inflected bombast – often well played but full of forgettable material, or else just poorly executed all round – it’s an absolute pleasure when a disc comes along that impresses.  This full length release from State of Salazar does just that.  Bringing together the talents of various Swedish musicians and fronted by vocalist Marcus Nygren (previously of metal band 8-Point Rose), ‘All The Way’ offers something near melodic perfection.  With similar sounds to their closest contemporaries Work of Art, celebrating the sounds of Toto and Survivor, the result is the best AOR record since State Cows dropped their debut in 2011.

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