A forceful production, strong songs and superb musical performances.

Four long years after 'Frozen Paradise', Sweden's Coldspell now return with this excellent new album 'A New World Arise'. If you're familiar with their earlier releases then prepare to be a little surprised by this one. It's heavier, more intense and with a tougher edge, but all the better for it. Band members Niclas Swedentorp (vocals), Michael Larsson (guitars), Chris Goldsmith (bass), Per Johansson (drums) and Matti Eklund (additional keyboards) have, between them, come up with a fine Melodic Hard Rock record full of songs that are rounded off with a bright Metal edge.

The opening trio of 'Forevermore', first single and video 'Call Of The Wild' and 'It Hurts' are prime examples of this new attitude-filled Melodic Metal. Larsson's guitars combine beautifully with Swedentorp's powerful vocals to drive these fantastic songs to their logical crescendos. 'Miles Away' has a dynamic hook and a riff to die for, while the hard-hitting ballad 'Signs' shows that this band understand that a one-paced album can get on a listener's nerves rather quickly, so changing things up makes what you hear all the more interesting.

For more proof of this changing-things-up, there's the almost Southern Rock-like attitude of 'Love Me Like You Do' (with its banjo intro), the Melodic-tastic 'Wait 'Til Tomorrow', which has a striking riff and big chorus, and the mid-paced splendour of 'Just One Night' to contended with. Coldspell have decided to leave the best offering until last with the epic title track 'A New World Arise' rounding things off. This song sums up Coldspell in a nutshell; tight arrangements, stellar musicianship, dramatic vocals and guitar riffs abound, and this one song shows just what a great song-writer Larsson is, with his lyrics dealing with the loss of one's self to the digital age.

For a band as good as Coldspell, four years is too long a time away from our music scene. 'A New World Arise' is definitely an album that fans of old will love, but if you have a fondness for dynamically played Melodic Rock/Metal with a forceful production, strong songs and superb musical performances, then this should be right up your street.

Ian Johnson