Review: Remedy – Something That Your Eyes Won’t See

S-Rock Music (December 16th, 2022)

Reviewer: Jason Hopper

Remedy is a new melodic hard rock act formed this year by guitarist  Roland “Rolli” Forsman.  When his touring and session work was cut short by the pandemic, he worked on writing songs for other artists while at the same time putting some tracks aside for a band he wanted to construct. After months of planning and reaching out to fellow Swedish musicians for assistance, Remedy is now ready to make their debut.

And what a debut it is! The Swedes have done it again. There’s a knack in that country to construct a wonderful balance of melodicism and power chords. If you like any of the bands from this region of the world, you now have another band to seek out.

Opening with ‘Living On The Edge’, the band kicks into high gear right out of the gate. A catchy, keyboard-drenched powerhouse of a track, it’s a song that I can easily see a band like H.E.A.T or Eclipse performing. Speaking of Eclipse, Roland was able to get their band leader Erik Mårtensson to mix and master the album, so you can assuredly hear some production similarities between the bands.

That opener is just the beginning. This album is drenched in melodic goodness. I’ll get straight to my favourite track, ‘Marilyn’. There has to be some type of scientific reason why a woman’s name with three syllables is so catchy in songs. “Gloria”, “Amanda”, “Madelaine”, “Maryanne” and so many others have the perfect proportion of syllables to melody ratio which work so well when constructing a catchy anthem and that’s what you get here. A high-energy anthemic rocker.  Picture gang vocals singing out the title of this track. What you would imagine it sounds like… is EXACTLY what it sounds like. Maybe a little conventional for the genre, but oh so effective.

Roland and his friend/writing partner Sören Kronqvist had previously written songs for Joe Lynn Turner, One Desire and Crazy Lixx, so they certainly know how to write incredibly melodies.  Towards the end of the album, there’s the triple attack of ‘Thunder In The Dark’, ‘My Devil Within’, and ‘Sinners and Saints’. All three are distinctly different rhythmically but all are powerful rockers that are in perfect sequencing, as the rhythm of each track accelerates from the song that preceded it. These are some of the catchiest choruses you are likely to hear from any band this year.

While I enjoyed most of the album tracks, it is not without its flaws. ‘Scream In Silence’ is my second favourite song, with solid lyrics about a never-ending nightmare. One small issue that stops this song from being the best track on the album is an odd key change. The chorus is played in a major key and soars, but at the very end it switches to a minor key and a lower vocal register, which is a little off putting and reduces the power of the chorus.

And then there are the ballads. ‘Sundays At Nine’ is one of the strangest songs that I have heard all year. The heartfelt piano melody that starts quiet before going for power ballad bombast is very well performed but my issue is with the bizarre lyrics. The story involves a man having a conversation with his wife via phone while the plane he is on is moments from crashing. Lines like “I forgot to charge the iPad in the room” and “Please remember dance class Sundays at Nine” are just some of the awkward lines thrown around. I get what Roland was going for, a distraught man talking about anything but his impending death, and kudos to him for the interesting concept, but the execution lyrically is clunky and awkward. ‘Lifeline’ has a similar musical construct but is a little bland and should not have closed out the album. As much as I like the three rockers in a row before it, the album should have closed with ‘Sinners and Saints’, with ‘Lifeline’ proceeding it.

There have been some great albums released by bands this year and this album certainly gives them a run for their money. If the ballads were stronger, this would be a serious contender for Album of the Year. As it stands now, it’s certainly a Top 10 release. It’s a fabulous way to close out the year. If you’re a fan of Swedish melodic rock then don’t hesitate one more minute. Make room on your shelf (or electronic device) for yet another great band with hopefully many more albums to come.