Casablanca – Apocalyptic Youth

Casablanca are a Swedish/American five-piece, chock full of seasoned musicians. Featuring Ryan Roxie (formerly Alice Cooper’s mainstay guitarist alongside Erik Stenamo (of Swedish glam/synth rockers Melody Club), drummer Josephine Forsman (Sahara Hotnights) with Anders Ljung (Space Age Baby Jane on vocals. Bass duties are handled by former Swedish international footballer, Mats Rubarth who was most well known for his ability to pick up a staggering amount of yellow and red cards!.

Casablanca opened for KISS on the Swedish leg of their Sonic Boom Over Europe tour in 2010, they have appeared on Swedish national television and at the Swedish Eurovision finals (I wish we had bands like this at our Eurovision finals!). So, you ask, what is the record like?

In a word, amazing!. From infectious guitar licks of “Rich Girl” to the more laid back style of “The Juggler”, the whole album is sure to appeal to all lovers of high quality, melodic, good time rock ‘n’ roll. Just listening to the title track, the band caught my attention and never let it go. This is clearly proper, good time music like what they used to make – fabulous riffs, choruses to sing along to, and the sort of melodic rock that wouldn’t have been at all out of placeduring the late 80s high water mark for melodic rock. However, don’t let me make you think that this is retro sounding at all – just feel good fun that if you love melodic rock you NEED to buy!

Released on 2nd April on the Rocket Songs label.

Review by David Wilson

 

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