One Desire - 'Midnight Empire' Frontiers from 22 May 2020

Finland’s One Desire have expanded their sound slightly on their second album. There’s more emphasis on the ‘rock’ and it should help widen their appeal to those with more ‘classic’ tastes.

2017’s debut was a pop-rock masterpiece and contained one of the finest songs of that decade in ‘Hurt’. Fans of the debut album will also enjoy this; it’s still jam-packed with hooks, melodies and killer choruses but this time the band are also aiming for the epic. There are 10 tracks here and half of them clock in at five and a half minutes or more so there’s more room to show off the quality of the instrument playing as well as the song writing.

‘Shadowman’ is a strong opener and rocks hard. It begins with a spoken word intro before exploding in a riot of kick-drums, guitar and keyboard. It’s a stunning six-minute plus statement although I would also be interested to hear a ‘radio edit’ version with a trim at either end. ‘After You’ve Gone’ is more of a classic AOR separate ways tune but it also has enough space to showcase the quality of the passionately delivered vocals and guitar playing in particular.

The longest track is ‘Through The Fire’ which seems to be aiming for a modern ‘Soldier of Fortune’ vibe but also features some blazing guitar about three minutes in. The more conventional beat driven songs include ‘Godsent Exstacy’ and the dancey ‘Down and Dirty’ whilst ‘Rio’ is a decent shimmering ballad.

The band were due out on tour with The Night Flight Orchestra this Summer and after a three year gap between albums it’s a shame that we won’t get the chance to hear these songs live yet. Their UK shows with Eclipse a few years ago were outstanding and there are a couple of great rock songs near the end of this album (‘Battlefield of Love’ and ‘Killer Queen’) that should work brilliantly on stage.

Overall, it feels like progress and this has been worth the wait. The AOR / melodic quality is still there but the additional hard rock element elevates it even more and this will surely be one of Frontiers’ most popular releases this year.