Pelle K: Bag of Tricks

Liljegren Records/Sound Pollution

Norwegian rocker Pelle K first rose to recognition on the Norwegian national TV show “The X Factor”, performing German and Italian power metal songs. Via Youtube videos he became lead singer for both DAMNATION ANGELS and THE ANABASIS, plus got signed with DooLittle. An album with lyrics of love, fear and trust/strengths is promised. Guests like Tommy ReinXeed, Tommy Karevik (SEVENTH WONDER), Oliver Hartmann and Amanda Somerville help out to reach the heights of a band like AVANTASIA. This is the first installment, will there be more?

The pompous intro “Entrance” sets the trend. With the featured guests there can be no doubts what you´re about to hear. The album is filled with pompous keyboards, meticulously carved out compelling melodies, orchestrated parts and a lot of routine. But they real spark of say AYREON is missing. The many handcrafted melodies seem occasionally to fall flat, while still many, such as the disguised heavily groovy “Thundernight” and the beautiful duet of Oliver and Amanda, “Send My Message Home” are pretty convincing. I´m not sure how to judge the film score that they use for title track, or if songs like “Win” “Stare into My Eyes” are genial or simply overblown. The hand of REINXEED is clearly present, the other guests are merely star powder. All in all I quite liked this, but the contents are not all that fantastic.

Track List
Entrance
Fugue State
Reason and Psychosis
Send My Message Home
Thundernight
Win
Don´t Belong
Stare into My Eyes
Born in Babylon
Bag of Tricks
Conflagrate My Heart

www.doolittle.se www.reachinghorizons.net/pellek