Ignition - Ignition (2003)

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Ignition - Ignition (2003)

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Mediocre melodic rock from this Scandinavian band who were formed to play a set of unreleased songs collected by MTM manager Magnus Soderkvist.Three of those were co-written by Sherwood: "Tell Me You're Mine" (described by Söderström as "Powerful AOR track with a rhythmic thing going on that I like."), "Night After Night" ("Quite a heavy tune this one. Riff made of pure lead. Johan pounding the poor drums with the thickest drumsticks he could find. Pontus hitting the strings of his bass with a brick.") and "Should have Done You Right" ("The ballad of the album. Good melody and the form of the song is not that obvious which I think makes it more interesting. Excellent vocals from Jan."). None are particularly notable. Sherwood's co-writers are Jimmy Haun, who played on Union, and Guy Allison of World Trade. As far as I know, they have never released their own versions of these songs. Babylon is a cover of the Starship song, while John Wetton-collaborator Bob Marlette co-wrote a couple of the other pieces.
Jan Christian Johansen, born January 9, 1966 in Stockholm, is a Swedish singer. He also plays drums, guitar and bass. He is the son of the jazz musician Egil Johansen.Active for several decades and internationally popular, Jan Johansen is a Swedish singer whose debut single, "Se På Mej," was a chart-topping smash hit that took third place at the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest. Born on January 9, 1966, in Stockholm, Sweden, he is the son of Swedish-Norwegian jazz drummer Egil Johansen. He burst onto the Swedish music scene in 1995 with the smash hit single "Se På Mej," which topped the charts for nine weeks and spent 20 weeks in the Top Ten. The song was also a Top Ten hit in neighboring Norway. Johansen was chosen to represent Sweden at the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest with "Se På Mej," and finished in third place. Meanwhile, he made his full-length album debut with Johansen (1995), which spent ten weeks in the Top Ten and peaked at number two. Though Johansen scored a couple follow-up hits with the singles "Mitt Hjärta I Din Hand" and "Kommer Tid, Kommer Vår," the latter a duet with Jill Johnson, his second album, Johansen 2 (1996), couldn't rival the success of its predecessor, failing to break the Top 20 in either Sweden or Norway (where "Kommer Tid, Kommer Vår" was a big hit). In a turn of bad fortune, he didn't hit the charts again until after the turn of the century. His comeback came in 2001 when he took fourth place at that year's Melodifestivalen contest with the hit single "Ingemansland." The accompanying full-length album, Fram Till Nu (2001), was also a hit. Johansen returned to the Melodifestivalen two more times, taking seventh place in 2002 with the Top 20 hit "Sista Andetaget," and second place in 2003 with the Top Ten hit "Let Your Spirit Fly," a duet with Pernilla Wahlgren. The songs were included on the respective albums Hela Vägen Fram (2002) and X My Heart (2003). He remained active in subsequent years, scoring sporadic hits now and then in both Sweden and Norway.

Album:

New Swedish rockers Ignition have been getting a fair rave within melodic circles, and I can see why, but I also see a few other points.First up, this, like so many great Swedish bands, rocks big time and is going to appeal to a wide range of hard rock and melodic rock fans.The band's debut album consists of tracks primary sourced from US songwriters, with the band only contributing a couple of their own. While I won't second guess the band's writing skills, I can say that the songs chosen are all high quality and well worthy of their inclusion here.Another highlight is the excellent production quality. The whole mix/sound is first rate, with the added bonus of some great backing vocals and guitar overdubs in all the right places. Overall, the whole package is very professional and above average for the scene as a whole.In fact, it really has that big fat Mike Slamer production feel to it…expect with a European twist, not an American one.The album isn't an instant hit - it requires a few listens, with more of it's qualities being unearthed each listen.Backing vocals are as good as they are, because Goran Edmon is the man responsible on all tracks.As I have said, the songs are terrific, with lots of heavy guitar riffs, a thumping rhythm and importantly, good melodic choruses. The tempo changes from uptempo hard rock, to moody mid-tempo, and straight ahead melodic rock/AOR and a couple of good rock ballads.Tell Me Your Mine is one of the better rockers on the album and Fire With Fire is a cool moody rock track.Goodbye To The Good Times is reminiscent of Jaded Heart at their best and First To Cry is an old Mark Free demo that remains fresh and appealing.Matti Alfonzetti co-writes one track and other songs are sourced from great writers like Cliff Magnus, Bob Marlette & Tom Whitlcok, Tommy Funderburk, Billy Sherwood & Guy Allison and more.Now to the only 'but' of the whole album. I'm not a great fan of the vocalist. His dark, raspy and somewhat gruff vocals aren't my usual choice. As it is, he does add a heavier feel to proceedings, as this would be pure heavy AOR if a smoother vocalist was in place.I'm a big vocalist person. So as good as this album's songs and production is, the voice does take a little away for me. Others might feel quite the opposite, but I feel the point had to be said.The production quality is there, the song quality is there, the power and conviction of delivery is there. This is a great hard rock debut from another classy Swedish band. This album will find a lot of fans in the melodic community.My only hesitation is the vocalist's style, but repeated listening finds him growing on you also.