1. Intro – 00:29
2. Fearless – 04:17
3. Let’s Play Rock’n’Roll – 03:26
4. I Arrive When You Go – 03:41
5. Rhythm is Dead – 03:22
6. Back to Hell – 03:29
7. Always on the Run – 03:13
8. Glory Days – 02:52
9. When the Wind is Gone – 04:29
10. Movin’ On – 06:28
11. Sunny Days – 03:59
Year of release: 2019
Label: Black Lodge Records
http://www.frontback.se
Recently, the editor-in-chief asked me if I am also interviewing men or
only women. Well, for me, the rock world doesn’t exist without ladies.
Without their grace, style, presence, and above all their outstanding
artistic talents. I just discovered another interesting band led by an
amazing female singer – FRONTBACK. This hardrock quartet from Sweden has
just presented its latest production, entitled „Don’t Mind the Noise”.
It begins with a half-minute collage in which against the background of
crows we hear menacing lion roars. A quick slide down the bass string
and „Fearless” starts. Anlo Front’s voice, as said on band’s Facebook
page, actually has something of Gwen Stefani in it. However, it is
clearly heard that this is her natural timbre, not deliberate imitation.
In next song in the order, „Let’s Play Rock’n’Roll”, I like the
harmonious choirs in the chorus that strongly remind me Paramore. It’s
such a nice leap, something like a mash-up of the No Doubt’s „It’s My
Life” with „That’s What You Get” from Hayley Williams’ band’s
repertoire.
The slower fragments of „I Arrive When You Go” are quite southern
rock-based, thanks to the syncopated riff which uses a technique popular
in this genre which involves suppressing the strings with the right
hand, but for the most part this track is another quick shot.
Permanently it gets slow in „Rhythm is Dead”, which I like from this
whole set probably the most. In this song from Anlo’s vocals, due to the
fact that she sings in higher registers than in previous songs, echoes
of Gwen and Hayley disappear, and this can be counted as a plus, after
all, it is known for a long time that the main technique of most
reviewers when assessing young bands is comparing individual elements of
their work to famous names. If such an operation is impossible – a huge
plus for the band. However, the are also some associations that are not
so obvious. That’s how I got with „Back to Hell”, whose main riff, with
the exception of the last chord, reminds me „Światła i Kamery” by our
native De Mono. Overall, however, it is a fully Texas song, ideally
suited to listening while driving.
Gwen Stefani’s echoes come back in „Always on the Run” because Anlo
sings again in the low registers of her voice range. An oriental flavor
appears in the music layer – the guitar theme that appears immediately
before the solo is clearly associated with typical Japanese tunes.
Speaking of „Glory Days” I have to refer to direct similarities again –
the intro of this track, as well as its main riff, stinks for a
kilometer with Maiden’s hit „Fear of the Dark”. But I have to give
Frontback that even patents already used can be ripped together in an
intelligent way.
Listening to „Don’t Mind the Noise” and slowly starting to understand
what kind of sound the musicians wanted to achieve, I was waiting for
some sublime stadium number. „When the Wind is Gone” fulfilled this
role. The moderate tempo, sublime riffs with long resounding notes of
varying heights and orchestrations in the background make this song an
ideal candidate for closing the basic set at concerts based in the
bigger venues. You can wave your hands, you can raise lighters.
Along with the first bars of „Movin’ On”, the classical hard rock face
of the band returns. In this song, the group perfunctorily uses sound
processing, first in the short bass solo that starts all over, and then
in Anlo’s spoken part, more or less in the middle of the song. The album
is crowned with „Sunny Days”, which is the clearest mixture of No Doubt
and Paramore on this album. This number, literally sounds like taking
vocals from the former and the instrumental layer from the latter.
At the beginning I noted that the timbre of the vocalist’s voice sounds
natural despite all these associations. After listening to the whole
album, I can say that this claim can be applied to all aspects of
Frontback’s music. The way they play, the way they sound does not have
any artificiality, and considering the fact that in guitar music based
primarily on riffs it is getting harder and harder to create something
original today, I must admit that it is a really solid album.
7,5/10
Patryk Pawelec
