Captain Black Beard
Title:Neon Sunrise
Label:Mighty Music
Release Date: 7th October 2022
Woah!! What’s this? I tell you what it is, this is an amazing kick-ass album by Sweden’s finest purveyors of AOR namely Captain Black Beard.
Now am not a huge fan of the lighter side of rock, but dude this platter kicks up a storm with its addictive sing-along tunes and has you forgetting all the woes of the world and how we are all going to possibly freeze to death his winter!
From the opening salvo of “Flamenco”, you find yourself instantly hooked, this starts proceedings in style and is my favorite track on here, am not ashamed to say I play this at least ten times a day! With Martin Holsners vocals delivering on every level and the riffs taking you on a rollercoaster ride of heavenly delights, this feel-good tune has ya dancing away and scaring the neighbors as you sing along, it’s hard to better this opening track, but the guys do a stellar job as “Were The Forgiven” blasts out of ya speakers, after the torrent of the opener this chunky Munky toon ticks all the boxes, hell yeah, with the woah woahs and delicious music spilling into the room this is awesome.
The next two tracks step off the gas a tad as “Physical” and “Moment of truth” work their magic onto you, another great example of top-quality musicianship, this is top-notch uplifting stuff and what we all need right now. “Wasted heart” screams mainstream radio as does the opener, of course, we know this won’t happen in these throw-away plastic crap days of one-hit wonders. This song is massive it has everything and would have been on constant rotation back when MTV mattered! The tempo continues as the killer “Night reaction” rocks up and socks it to you good as Christian Ek and Daniel Krakowski make their guitars sing as the rhythm section of Robert Majd on bass and Yngve Strömberg drums deliver on all fronts. This is AOR so of course, we get into ballad mode as “Chains of Love” comes knocking on ya door, but hey this isn’t soppy no this is a feel-good ballad, with some divine guitar Manship thrown in, simply stunning.
Things get harder as “Burning Daylight” and “Break into forever” this is melodic rock as it should be, fun, toe-tapping music with some killer riffs and catchy choruses. "Invincible" is a firm favorite of mine when am at the gym, totally motivating and groovetastic, and a sure-fire winner on every level.This whole work of art squirrels its way fiendishly into your brain and no more so than on “State of denial” We get a short finish to this opus with the title track.
So to sum up“Neon Sunrise” is twelve melodic slices of delicious pie that needs to be savored and devoured with delight.
Reviewer: Seb DI Gatto Score:10/10
Reviewed: 28.08.22
Tracklisting:
1. Flamenco
2. We’re The Forgiven
3. Physical
4. Moment Of Truth
5. Wasted Heart
6. Night Reaction
7. Chains Of Love
8. Burning Daylight
9. Break (Into Forever)
10. Invincible
11. State Of Denial
12. Neon Sunrise
Line-up:
Christian Ek - guitar
Martin Holsner - vocals
Daniel Krakowski - guitar
Robert Majd – bass
Yngve Strömberg – drums
Web / social:
CaptainBlackBeard.net
Facebook.com/CaptainBlackBeardBand
Instagram.com/captainblackbeardband
