Grand - 'Second to None'

The opening track ‘Crash and Burn’ is good – as in, W.E.T / H.e.a.t level good. You can tell from the intro that it’s going to be a cracker, even before the impressive lead vocal kicks in and they crash into a chorus that is so majestic that it could easily find a place on a ‘Best of Eclipse’ album.

I also really enjoyed ‘When We Were Young’ although it made me feel really old. The song is a reminiscence back to a time when the friends name-checked in the lyrics were singing along to “an old Journey song” and I think I probably did the same thing when it was a new Journey song! You can feel the classic 80s influence in the music though and that’s always a good thing.

There is some really simple, but effective, story-telling in a couple of the songs. ‘Kryptonite’ is a duet between lead singer, Mattias Olofsson and musical star, Nina Soderquist. It is about a pair of star-crossed lovers still bonded by young lust and a mix-tape cassette, while ‘Out of the Blue’ is a classic “coming back to me” story with a happy ending. Both are excellent and there is even a bit of Europe-style keyboard splendour going on in the former.

The rest of the album is very solid too, including several songs with familiar titles such as ‘Sweet Talker’, ‘Rock Bottom’, ‘All or Nothing’ and ‘Achilles Heel’ but they are all original compositions. With very high production values, there is a real shine of quality about this record and great musical performances too, from Jakob Svensson, formerly of Wigelius, on guitar and keyboards, and Anton Martinez Matz on drums in support of Olofsson’s remarkable soaring vocals.

As you know, it is compulsory for all Scandi-AOR albums to include a “girl’s name” song. ‘Caroline’ from the band’s self-titled debut was a cracker but on this album the ballad ‘Lily’ is a wee bit weaker but it does grow on you after repeat listens. The closing track ‘Daze of Yesterday’ is a much better ballad though. It really has the feel of Dennis DeYoung singing an epic Jim Peterik song and things can’t get any better than that, can they?

Overall, this is an excellent album with some really sweet songs and very worthy of attention from all true AOR connoisseurs. With two albums of material behind them now, Grand is set to make their live debut at the Malmo Melodic Festival in July 2024. They appear on Saturday 27th July with Perfect Plan, Romeo’s Daughter, Houston and others. Sound good?