No Rules are a Sweden Rock/Metal band from Sweden. They released their debut in 2006, then an EP in 2013. They draw influence from Dio, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. Their new album Never Give Up is to be released this April.
The album general style is Heavy Metal/Power Metal in the classic sense. It consists of 9 tracks, all of similar pace. There’s no Power Ballad which is a drawback. The vocals here are not the ones that click with you at first listen. The vocalist does have a good vocal range and is able but his voice isn’t to everybody’s taste. Aside from that, his vocals seem repetitive throughout the album; you don’t hear many but one side of his vocals. I have to add that I really liked the contribution of guest female vocalist Madeléne in ‘Occasion’.
Now, let’s get to the full half of the glass as they say. The best element here is the lead guitar; the guitarists are very talented and it’s easy to tell they have been doing this for a very long time. The solos are my favorite part of any song in the album. Overall, the instruments work well together although I have to complain that the rhythm guitar sounds a bit too low.
I did enjoy listening to the album but would say; it’s better be listened to one song at a time rather than the whole album at one listen. Also, it grows on you by every listen, so first impression doesn’t work here. I like that you can’t say that one song is bad. Tracks simply go from fairly good to very good and you know that you’re going to enjoy the amazing guitar work. The fact that every song has a fairly long solo is just amazing and rare nowadays.
In a short conclusion, Never Give Up is far from perfect but yet far from being bad. Don’t expect to find good sound quality or diversity but expect to hear talented musicians and good songwriting.
Edited by: NJ Bakr
