GRAND – Second to None

Swedish melodic rockers Grand are back with a new, pristine-sounding album that leans heavily towards AOR, which is no bad thing in my book, and I could easily see this outfit appealing to fans of Def Leppard, the Joe Lynn Turner-fronted version of Rainbow, and late eighties/early nineties Foreigner just to list a few examples. The cool thing about this record is that these gentlemen are more than capable musicians and that they are not exactly strangers to crafting an infectious rock tune with a tasty chorus and classy hooks to it, which is as evident on this disc as it was on their previous LP. Having said that, this slick and glossy musical affair of theirs suffers from a lack of consistency with roughly half the tracks lacking depth and staying power. Too many derivative and half-baked ideas rear their heads throughout, which makes for a rather frustrating listen, and its unevenness entails that it loses its momentum a little too often. Luckily, some glorious songs in the shape of the driven ‘Crash and Burn’, the intriguing and mysterious ‘Rock Bottom’, and the irresistable pop-esque ‘Out of the Blue’ lighten things up and are definitely worth your time. In short, Second to None does not capitalize on the promise, potential, and qualities of the self-titled offering from two years ago.