Review: Skagarack – Heart And Soul

Sound Pollution (August 25^th 2023)

Reviewer: Dan Mann

Skagarak were releasing albums back in the late 80’s & early 90’s before Scandi rock became cool. Those albums I’ve always enjoyed, being a decent slice of AOR/melodic rock. I was therefore more than a little interested in how the band would sound 30 years since the band’s last album ‘Big Time‘ was released.

Recorded over a period of 2 – 3 years, ‘Heart And Soul‘ stems from a reunion of the band in 2020 for a handful of gigs and sees a recording line-up of Torben Schmidt (Vocals, Bass, Keyboards); Jan Petersen (Guitars); Dennis Pedersen, Lars Daugaard, and Mattias IA Eklundh (Drums).

So what’s the album like? Well a good indication of my feelings towards it is the fact it’s been on regular rotation the last few weeks, with my enjoyment growing after every playthrough. The 12 tracks on ‘Heart And Soul‘ are a fine example of well polished and written melodic rock. Okay some songs stand out over others, which is lets face it normal for any album. Stand out songs for me are ‘Be With You Forever‘, which is just superb, ‘Heart And Soul‘ and album closer ‘Anymore‘, but none of the songs I regard as fillers.

If you’re not familiar with Skagarack or their back catalogue,  fear not as this is still an impressive introduction to the band. Highly recommended.

Tracklist:

01 Give It
02 Peace Of Mind (To Have A Good Time)
03 A Cool Damn Car
04 Heart And Soul
05 Talkin’ Bout Jesus
06 Changing
07 Cool To Be Old School
08 Be With You Forever
09 Where Have You Been
10 Ain’t Got Nothing To Lose
11 So Right
12 Anymore