BAD HABIT - review added 21st January 2011
Album Review: Atmosphere (2011)
For fans of: Hard Rock... and facing the sun
Bad Habit - Bax Fehling on lead vocals, Hal Marabel on guitars and keyboards, Sven Cirnski on lead guitar, Patrik Södergren on bass, and Jaime Salazar on drums - was formed in 1987 in Sweden. The Hal Marabel produced, Jonas Reingold mixed "Atmosphere" is the band's 10th album and follows "Above And Beyond" (2008), an album I enjoyed but didn't get chance to review.
The sound this time is, if anything, a tad heavier. Bad Habit is still an AOR band at their core, but there's definitely more oomph to them in 2011. Think along the lines of Last Autumn's Dream and you'll have the right idea.
Good:
The Bad Habit vibe is so happy it's scary. Even if they sang about murder and bloodshed there'd still be a certain charm about it. Album's don't get much more feelgood than this. Although there's little of exception on "Atmosphere", the musicianship and singing are faultless. The songwriting is too to be honest. In fact it really is hard to find anything to complain about.
Not So Good:
The only real downer you can throw at the band is the safety of it all. "Atmosphere" is by-the-book AOR perfection, but it doesn't always boast the monumental choruses this music demands. It would be nice if they could go out on a limb...although the fanbase are probably happy with them exactly where they are.
The Songs:
Best moments include the awesome opener 'In The Heat Of The Night' with it's gigantic chorus, the cute and cuddly 'Words Are Not Enough', the cool slow-cooking 'Fantasy', the really-rather-rocking 'Break The Silence', and the nearly better than everything else 'Catch Me When I Fall'.
In Summation:
"Atmosphere" is so full of brilliantly likeable and inoffensive hard rock it's a bit hard to be passionate about it...but it's worth the effort if you like rock to caress rather than shake you.
Entertainment/Enjoyment:
Musicianship:
Vocals:
Song Writing:
Production:
Overall (Not An Average Of The Above):
Check out... Tracks 1 and 12, although the rest of it is good too...
Track List:
01. In The Heat Of The Night
02. Words Are Not Enough
03. Every Time You Cry
04. I Wanna Be The One
05. I’ll Die For You
06. Angel Of Mine
07. Fantasy
08. We Are One
09. Only Time Will Tell
10. Break The Silence
11. Save Me
12. Catch Me When I Fall
13. Without you
Label: AOR Heaven
Artist's website(s): Bad Habit | MySpace | Facebook
