Review: Autumn’s Child – Tellus Timeline

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Review: Autumn’s Child – Tellus Timeline

Pride & Joy Music (January 19th, 2024)

Reviewer: Chris O’Connor

When one of your favourite Melodic Rock/AOR bands announces that five albums into their career, they are going in a heavier/harder musical vein – I will be honest, for me anyway, alarm bells begin to sound. All too often, this means that the flair for melody and harmony is sacrificed in the pursuit of ‘muscle’, and the end result is almost always disappointing.

So, it was with some trepidation that I approached this fifth studio outing by Swedish Melodic Rockers Autumn’s Child. Having reviewed their two previous albums, and being delighted by them both, I really was wary that I was in for a disappointment.

Happily, I am able to report that this is not the case. Mikael Elandsson and Co have delivered another gem, chock full of melodic songs, and yes, there are a couple of ‘heavier’ numbers, but at no point is there a dip in musical quality. Co-produced by Mikael and guitarist/keyboardist Claes Andreasson, ‘Tellus Timeline’ contains all the elements that have made me love them so much, I can even tolerate the very Beatles-esque ‘Around The World In A Day’, which sounds like something Robby Valentine might otherwise have recorded.

I can see where they have gone for a more Symphonic edge, for instance, ‘Gates Of Paradise’ has the feel of Nightwish about it, helped by the addition of opera singer Karin Funk, whose shimmering voice counterpoints Mikael’s perfectly. For me though, it’s the coupling of ‘Here Comes The Night’ and ‘We Are Young’ (tracks 3 and 4) where the album finally takes off, these two are simply perfect Melodic Rock gems, and the band delivers them with flawless aplomb.

Pontus Åkesson’s fretwork is elegant and tasteful as always throughout the album, he really is criminally underrated as a guitarist, I could listen to him all day. The rhythm section of bass guitarist Magnus Rosén (ex-Hammerfall) and drummer Robban Bäck always deliver with style and elan, the whole thing just works collectively. The production is slick, polished, yet has plenty of punch too.

There are a couple of (ahem) ‘bubblegum’ Pop Rock moments, noticeably the deliberately Glam/retro ‘Come Get It’ and the even poppier ‘I Belong To You’ (which is very mid ‘70’s MOR), personally speaking, they are not my favourite moments on the album, but yer pays yer money … Me? I live for the glorious full on Melodic Rock stuff. You want an example? The ever -so-wonderful ‘Juliet’, which features a glorious duet with Alien legend Jim Jidhed – you truly could not ask for more!

So, ‘Tellus Timeline’ is not perfect, but in lots of ways that matter, it’s still a gem. If you love melodic Rock/AOR, and you love quality song-writing and musicianship, then this album should be on your ‘must have’ list. Do I love ‘Tellus Timeline’ as much as ‘Angel’s Gate’, the self-titled debut, or ‘Zenith’? Probably not. Is it on a par with the mainly excellent ‘Starflower’? Yes, most definitely. Would I recommend it to you? Of course! Simply marvellous!

Tracklist:

  1. Strike Of Lightning
  2. Gates Of Paradise
  3. Here Comes The Night
  4. We Are Young
  5. Around The World In A Day
  6. On Top Of The World
  7. This Is Goodbye
  8. Juliet
  9. Come Get It
  10. Never Surrender
  11. I Belong To You

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