Sunday, July 30, 2023

REVIEW : Domino Drive, Smoke And Mirrors (Pride & Joy Music Release: 22 September 2023)

Domino Drive is a new sensational melodic hard rock band that is hailing from Uppsala, Sweden. Originally formed back in 2014 when singer and keyboardist Sebastian Okupski (ex-Loch Vostok, ex-Mayadome) and drummer Alvaro Svanerö (Imperial Domain) began working on some early material Sebastian had written. Philip Borg (Imperial Domain) later joined the band on guitars. 

The bass player and lyricist Jonas Söder (Sarcasm) heard some early recordings of the band at the HSH recording studio in 2017, and he immediately contacted Sebastian to tell him that if the band ever become active, he wanted to be a part of it. Due to the members' other musical commitments, it would take another two years before they found the time to fully commit to the band. DOMINO DRIVE was eventually born in 2019, and a creative flow was instantly found among the band members. 

In 2022, the band finally found a permanent singer/guitar player in the outstanding multi-instrumentalist Jonas Tyskhagen (Winding Road), who also replaced Philip Borg. The band also found a record deal with the German label Pride And Joy Music and now it's ready to unleash it's fantastic debut entitled "Smoke And Mirrors". 

The whole album 'smells' classic Euro 80's melodic hard rock, with some strong metallic pinches, with big arrangements, soaring vocals, heavy guitars and some really catchy choruses for your ear pleasure! 

After the killer opener tune of "Starlet Queen" comes the hard hittin' "Never Give Up"!! "What About Us", "Smoke And Mirrors" and the moodier "Cul-De-Sac" are three more great samples of pure, quality and classic hard rock stuff! "Make Waves" is just a great and more melodic track while in "The Girl Who Never Was" we are dealing with a superb power ballad! Excellent stuff! 

I think that Domino Drive with their debut are here to stay and the sure thing is that will make some noise among the fans of the classic Euro melodic hard 'n' heavy scene! Highly recommended! 

Songwritting : 8
Production : 8
Songs : 8
Musicianship : 8 

Overall Rating : 8 / 10 


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