Swedish metallers are rocking so loud today, from heavy rock to melodic death metal, they always have something great to say- who doesn’t know about WOLF, AMON AMARTH, HYPOCRISY and legendary guitarist Yngwie Johan Malmsteen? I wonder what they have in their country that makes them such amazing metal warriors! Now it’s time to introduce you another great metal band from the metal land ofSweden, and it is BLACK ROSE. Perhaps some of you, especially those who live in the UK will be confused, as there is another BLACK ROSE band in England, but these are not the only ones. In fact there are a few bands with this name, even in one of them you see the name of legendary vocalist King Diamond. I ‘ve asked the band about this, check out their answer: “Anders had an idea for a band named ROSE in the early eighties, that name later transformed to BLACK ROSE. We thought the name suited the band’s sound”.

Swedish band BLACK ROSE formed in 1990 in Fagersta, a small town in Sweden. By listening to their music you would start a journey from Heavy Rock through Heavy Melodic Power Metal. The story of my knowledge about Black Rose started 8 years ago, when I found a half length song named “Everlasting Rain” by them. The song started with such a great Heavy Power Riff and I liked it from the first time I heard it. The song continued with great riffs and vocals but it ended when the guitar solo was about to start. Perhaps you understand how frustrating this was for me, so I started searching for them and for a full length version of that song. But in those days, the cyber world did not have a huge amount of data about the world of Heavy Metal like it does today. I kept seeking and searching for months but couldn’t find any clues, so I gave up for 8 years, until few months ago when I found them on facebook. After that I started to know and learn more about them and their music. BLACK ROSE released a new album, “Rise Again” in 2011, which includes 9 tracks and the album is following the same themes and music that they used in their previous albums, with such great artwork which reminds me of resurrection that I also could see it in the songs as well.

The album “Rise Again” sounds like a resurrection indeed, as they were not active from 2008,but the warriors are back now and they are ready to rock! “Rise Again”, starts with “My Enemies” and it is very epic, a very strange bass note which sounds like a spaceship appearing from behind the dark clouds, resurrection, and suddenly drummer Peter Haga starts to rock the flames on his drums.Also an epic keyboard rhythm joins them to complete this circle of greatness. You can see the traces of legendary guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen on this song and the whole of the album, in riffs and solos which are fast, powerful and Metal. The band’s new singer Peter Thederan who sings in a higher range than the previous singer, performs very well and the range of his voice reminds me of the legendary Kai Hansen in some of the songs.The second track is self titled and it’s a heavy rock song, which will bring you back to the golden age of rock and metal music; the ’80s, and it sounds like Blackmore’s Rainbow with modern technology mixed by Swedish rock taste.

All the lyrics of this album were written by vocalist Peter and he wrote very positive lyrics for this track, the lyrics like this reminds me of German power metal generators, HELLOWEEN and GAMMA RAY ‘S work, check the lyrics of “I Can” by HELLOWEEN or “Shine Forever” by GAMMA RAY out. Peter used psychology themes in written of the lyrics of “Rise Again” by using some symbols like a woman or soldier or even enemies. You can feel positive energies when you are listening to this album especially with the Rise Again track and you feel resurrection inside, something that pushes you to go forward and shine.

“Turn On The Night” is another Malmsteen ish track with a strong guitar riff and blast of drums in background, but before that Peter ask you to “Wake Up” so you better be ready for a true rocking song with melodic riffs and wonderful guitar solos which remind me Rising Forces’s Yngwie Malmsteen work in 80s-Era plus powerful bass riffs in background and fast and strong rhythms by drums. Next track is “Never Let Me Down” with some old school ish heavy metal riffs, at 1:50 bassist Anders Haga starts the solo part with rocking his fender bass, guitarist Thomas Berg joins him after few seconds to give you the joy of listening to a good solo guitar. “We Were Winners” is the only sad song in this album, it starts with a lovely guitar arpeggios which will is followed by a very good performance by vocalist Peter, vocal chorus and another amazing guitar solo. This song will really make you feel emotional for a while. But as I said BLACK ROSE only wishes you power and metal, so in next track they will give you the taste you of a Swedish version of melodic power metal, the track entitled “Hunter” and it’s the sixth track of this album, filled by powerful and fast riffs and guitar solos which remind you of Yngwie again.The seventh track is “The Bold And The Beauty” which is another great song for rocking. “Busted” starts fast, drums will rock your heads and it’s a mixture of Scandinavian melodic power metal and NWOBHM, when Thomas starts the solo part with a chromatic scale, that’s the bold time. The final track is “Our Wisdom” a very thoughtful track and lyrics, you can see the tracks of Yngwie on this song again and you will have a vision of him rocking and rolling on stage with his famous Fender. But WAKE UP this BLACK ROSE from Sweden who want to rock you, fast, strong and powerful.

“Rise Again” by Swedish BLACK ROSE is a heavy metal album, with a huge amount of powerful positive energies in the background and great guitar riffs and solos which remind you of 80s style of the amazing Yngwie Malmsteen. In other words, if you love a mixture of heavy metal and fast riffs and solos, this album is yours. My rating for this album is 9/10 with out any doubt. Keep on rockin…

BLACK ROSE “Rise Again” tracklisting:

My Enemies
Rise Again
Turn On The Night
Never Let Me Down
We Were Winners
Hunter
The Bold And The Beauty
Busted
Our Wisdom

BLACK ROSE is:

Anders Haga – Bass
Peter Thederan – Vocals
Peter Haga – Drums
Thomas Berg – Guitar

Review by Mohsen Fayyazi