To give you a frame of reference and to put The Night Flight Orchestra into present-day context, here’s a snapshot of some what’s been going on in the world as of late: Night Ranger has released a double live album and a surprisingly smashing new record. Tokyo Motor Fist, whose song writing core features members of Danger Danger and Trixter backed by the rhythm section of Greg Smith (Ted Nugent, Rainbow, Alice Cooper) and Chuck Burgi (Rainbow, Blue Oyster Cult, Joe Lynn Turner), released a kick ass album. Asia issued a double live album of a performance with a symphony orchestra in Bulgaria. House of Lords, Warrant and Harem Scarem have all released new records within the last week or so. Most of the aforementioned have come to the public light via Frontiers Records and Frontiers president, Serafino Perugino has continued his involvement in Place Vendome, who also has a new album due this summer. As of my writing this, Journey is playing in Las Vegas tonight, REO Speedwagon is in the middle of a west coast run, in two weeks Toto kicks off a US tour in a couple of weeks and Chicago probably played somewhere near you last week. The point here is that melodic rock/AOR may not be as overtly popular as it was in the days when bands were selling millions upon millions of units, but the “scene” appears to be as strong and healthy as ever. It’s a perfect time for The Night Flight Orchestra to thrive, and they’ve written an album that should help them do so.
The band, formed by Bjorn Strid and David Andersson of soilwork and joined by Sharlee D’Angelo, Jonas Källsbäck, Sebastian Forslund and Richard Larsson, originally came together as a medium for Strid and Andersson to revel in their love of melodic rock from the ‘70s and ‘80s and to have something more suitable to jam when they were cruising around on the yacht purchased with all that Soilwork publishing cash and merch money. Ok, that last part might not be entirely true, but over the course of three albums – Amber Galactic being the third – the band has done what they set out to do. Each album has adeptly displayed knowledge of how to write and play the sort of album-oriented rock that has VIP-package buying, middle managers air guitaring like it was the summer of 1976 and your mom throwing the panties she wore throughout the summer of 1976 onto casino stages across the continent. The biggest difference between Night Flight’s approach versus that of their list of influences is that given the musical background inherent to Strid, Andersson and D’Angelo, Amber Galactic presents with a harder edge. It’s a safe bet that Neil Schon, Jack Blades and Steve Lukather have no knowledge of melodic death metal and given that Soilwork was an early practitioner of that whole sound and are still going at it in some capacity, it’s easy to pick out the reason(s) behind their harder and edgier sound.
To wit, the material comprising Amber Galactic retains as powerful an edge as it does a melodic one. Strid’s voice lacks the silky smoothness of traditional AOR gusset-soakers, so even when congas, shakers, backing vocals and Larsson’s keyboards are incorporated and Källsbäck drumming puts four on the floor to assume an understated Steely Dan-ish role and everything is dropped into the already insanely catchy verses and choruses of “Gemini” it’s all gravy poured on strength. Even when they’re assuming more of a mid-paced/rock ballad approach, that gristle shines through. “Jennie” comes straight outta pre-corporate emblazoned stadium rock and “Domino” slinks towards the listener with chillwave, blue-eyed soul and Pablo Cruise on the brain before a massive chorus sets off a tsunami that washes away the islands in the sun. “Josephine” and “Something Mysterious” might as well be Journey deep cuts that only your sketchy uncle who attends family gatherings with a pinhole camera in his shoe would know. Then again, the sped up tempo, dueling guitar/keyboard/bass riff and high forehead vocals of “Space Whisperer” demonstrates a creative strength in this field of study.
There are moments where it seems like the band is trying too hard to throw in more tropes from AOR’s glory days than need be. The mid-section of “Sad State of Affairs” drops out for no real rhyme or reason for an ineffectual piano man non-sequitur and some of the lyrics are prototypical and cringe-worthy classic rock cheese (“A fair-haired girl from Michigan/running from the past/She was getting lost in the Tokyo night/and the light was fading fast” from “Josephine.” Good lord), but if there’s an area in which Amber Galactic definitely triumphs, it’s fun. There are no bones made about where the band and album are coming from; there’s no attempt to be original or reinvent the wheel, even if they have in some spots. Listening to the layers of percussion in “Gemini,” the handclaps and backing soul vocals in “Star of Rio,” the disco beat in “Saturn in Velvet,” the piano break in “Something Mysterious” and the space age keyboard runs in “Midnight Flyer” one can only picture these elements being added to the mix with ginormous smiles on the faces around the Night Flight rehearsal room. And we dare you to listen without a similar smile cracking your black metal hardened visage.
Score: 8/10
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOcnKnNKv-A[/youtube]
