The world is going to hell in a handbasket. If World War III doesn’t get us, then something else will.
But you know what’s standing after the apocalypse? AOR. That’s what…
Since the early 1980s, it’s seen them all off, and the flame still burns bright.
It must do, because I get so many AOR records sent to me; the trouble is, they aren’t all as good as this one from Landfall.
It’s obvious what this is from the opening bits of “Tree of Life”—a classy melodic hard rock chug. And, of course, when you add in the voice of Gui Oliver, things for the Brazilians never look back.
“SOS” has a heavier, modern-looking intro, and, like all of it, belongs in the top drawer.
To be fair to the four-piece (guitarist Marcelo Gelbcke and drummer Felipe Souzza have been playing music for most of their lives), they don’t do things in a dated way. “When The Curtain Falls” is playing in the sandpit with the prog kids, even if the harmonies are stacked high, and “Running in Circles” has impressive energy, but it would be wrong to suggest that the likes of “No Tomorrow” aren’t so 80s flavoured that they aren’t wearing shoulder pads and watching Knight Rider (way better than The A-Team, and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise).
Oliver has previously written songs for several artists, including Jimi Jamison, Bobby Kimball, Fergie Frederiksen, and Issa. So he knows how to construct a song, and he also knows that this stuff needs ballads. “A Letter to You” gives a proper big one, too.
“Coming Home” doesn’t have a hair out of place and races about, and if we can call these boys—generally speaking—the masters of the five-minute pop song. Notwithstanding the opening of “Intoxicated,” they deliver a sleazy guitar sound to go with it.
“Hourglass” stretches that theory to almost seven minutes, but it belongs in arenas, and bands like Landfall have been there.
There’s an enormous scale to what they do. “Higher Than the Moon” soars appropriately given its name, and “Wide Open Sky” is seemingly brimming with possibilities.
That’s perhaps true of the album it lends its name to as well.
Call it AOR, call it melodic hard rock, call it what you like, but if you add a touch of prog-like scope and ambition, you’ll be somewhere close to Landfall.
This far down the melodic road, bands like Dokken and FM have the market cornered, perhaps, but also every so often you just can’t resist a fresh take on the old thing, and “Wide Open Sky” is one of the better recent examples.
Rating: 8/10
REVIEW: LANDFALL – WIDE OPEN SKY (2025)
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