Covered Call - Money Never Sleeps [Album]

Blistering Records

May 22, 2009, 02:21 PM

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Covered Call (for the fact fans out there - "a financial investors term referring to having a long position in an asset combined with a short position in a call option on the same underlying asset") represent everything I thoroughly dislike about rock music. It's pompous, overblown, glossy, Swedish poodle rock which takes itself far too seriously. It took all of my strength and determination to sit through it. HOWEVER, if I forget myself for a second and took into account that in no way shape or form was this music made for me, I started to appreciate it on it's own terms.... almost.

Covered Call made even less sense to me when I discovered that lead singer Thomas Vikstrom used to be the vocalist for Candlemass. As in doom/death metal pioneers, purveyors of some of the darkest metal music of the 80's and 90's. Why on earth the man would choose this as his next logical step is beyond me.... but I guess the heart wants what it wants! Either way what you get here is histrionic hair metal with all of it's quirks and eccentricities. Pinched harmonics, group vocal harmonies, contrived and syrupy lyrics ("tried to find my way back home, now I'm standing all alone" etc.) and heavily reverberated and exaggerated drums engineered to sound as if they were recorded in a stadium. It takes most of it's artistic (cough) cues from Bon Jovi, Journey, Nickelback (dare I speak the name) and the gentler ends of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. If your not keen on either of those bands may I suggest you run to the hills?

For everyone else there are some solid (if unremarkable) songs here but for the life of me I couldn't pick out the tracks by name as (save for mid album POWER BALLAD 'Anything You Want') they are all pretty much interchangeable. The band itself can't really be faulted in terms of musicanship. Vikstrom's vocals are tuneful, powerful and soaringly operatic at times and the band more than keep up. It actually sounds like a band effort which is a feat to be commended. It's just all so plain though, every riff, every beat and every melody can be second guessed and by the time you get to track 6 you'll be checking your watch.

This is an achingly short review by my standard [I know] but I struggled to find much else to write. It was impossible to pick apart individual tracks and arrangements when they might as well all be different versions of the same song. On a final note I feel I must give myself a pat on the back though for getting through 400 odd words without ONCE mentioning Spinal Tap....... shit.

Tracklisting
01. All Because Of Me
02. Til' The End
03. Shine
04. Never Again
05. Anything You Want
06. I Wanna Be Free
07. Nothing At All
08. Money Never Sleeps
09. What About Us
10. Let's Make It Real

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