This is a good and competent set of tunes from Winding Road but my ears say this is probably too generic in a genre that is struggling to break free of the shackles it has found itself in.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Winding Road
ALBUM: Winding Road
LABEL: AOR Heaven
SERIAL: AORH0227
YEAR: 2021
SPONSOR: Germusica
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: 
LINEUP: Jonas Tyskhagen – lead vocals * Magnus Akerlund – guitars, vocals * Jan Hedlund – drums, vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 It’s A Matter Of Survival * 02 Summertime * 03 Call On Me * 04 I Lost You * 05 Out Of Control * 06 Stranger In The Night * 07 Take Me As I Am * 08 On My Own Again * 09 Shooting Star * 10 Gotta Get Close To You * 11 Before It All Falls Down * 12 We Can Run Away
RATING: 
WEBLINKS: FB Page
Background
Here’s another central Swedish band following in the path of Stormburst. They are called Winding Road. That association is due to the early 2000’s band Coastline which featured Thomas Hansson and Jan Hedlund. Rolling through the years, both blokes have picked up new gigs, and both Winding Road and Stormburst coincidentally are signed to AOR Heaven.
Winding Road was birthed in 2018 with Akerlund and Hedlund joining up for songwriting sessions. The aim was to produce music in the melodic rock/AOR vein, singer Jonas Tyskhagen would eventually hook on and the Winding Road recruitment was complete. The band signed to AOR Heaven in December 2020 this debut following three months later.
The Songs
I’ve mentioned this time and time again over the years, and that is: I much prefer it when a band peddling in melodic rock casts off their chains and ‘go for it’ in terms of accelerated tempo and intensity. Winding Road do this on occasion but perhaps not often enough.
A prime example would be ‘Summertime’ which is a doppelganger of fellow Swedes Creye, a super upbeat tempo melodic rocker of the first order. ‘Stranger In The Night’ is another, not unlike aforementioned stablemates Stormburst because of the keyboard/organ work. Add to this the keyboard dominated ‘Gotta Get Close To You’ which shows this band can rock hard when required.
The dramatic ‘On My Own Again’ with its preference for minor chords and lovely keyboard work is a feature, while I also enjoyed the closer ‘We Can Run Away’ even if the track was too sunny and bright. The two ballads ‘I Lost You’ and ‘Take Me As I Am’ though decent just didn’t do enough on my excito-meter.
In Summary
Overall this is a good and competent collection of tunes but my ears say this is probably too generic in a genre that is struggling to break free of the shackles it has found itself in (think the samey Frontiers roster). As a first up effort though, Winding Road demonstrate what is possible when the ideas flow and the determination is there. A bit of refinement would go a long way but the building blocks are in place.
Video
It’s A Matter Of Survival
Before It All Falls Down
On My Own Again
Call On Me
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