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Saw a post on FB saying that album #2 could be out by the end of 2018. Seems pretty quick but I know I heard in an interview with Rob Wylde awhile ago saying he had a bucket of songs ready to work with so maybe it'll be possible. Rob Wylde Next year is gonna be a very busy one promoting this album with shows EVERYWHERE! But album 2 will be released late 2018. I'd still be surprised if the album makes it out that soon but at least good to hear they're thinking about it

Been checking this out today as I hadn't paid any attention to this yet. Don't think it's terrible. Music sounds decent to me but vocals aren't really doing it for me....Accented and just sound off in spots. Pass for me.

They've recently added a CD to their web store. It has their No Home But The Road EP plus their Blue Collar Revolver songs on it. My copy should show up soon. https://lansdownemusic.com/

Way more balls on this than either of those IMO though which is why I'd say some Eclipse is mixed in. Album continues to grow on me...really liking it. Just saw they released a Japan version of course with a new song as a bonus track. Would like to hear that track so might have to track this down.

Like that Cry tune a lot....might be my favorite song on the album.

Has to be my early front runner for #1 album of 2018.

Think I've settled on my personal top 10 for this year. What a year...Most releases I've bought in a year in quite some time. 1. Midnite City - S/T - Liked every song, hits my taste perfectly and haven't been able to get enough of this album since it released. 2. H..e.a.t - Into The Great Unknown - Like the album plenty, one or two songs that I don't care much for though that pushed it to #2 3. Crazy Lixx - Ruff Justice - My new favorite album from this band that for me edges out New Religion. 4. Eclipse - Monumentum - Solid album but gets a tiny bit samey in spots. For me, a little more variety could've pushed it up on the list. 5. Tokyo Motor Fist - S/T - Great debut that also hit my tastes perfectly. One or two songs not doing much for me and thin production knocked it down a little but some great songs on this. 6. Harem Scarem - United - I haven't been a fan of these guys and don't own any other releases. However, something about this one grabbed me. Fantastic melodic rock album top to bottom. 7. One Desire - S/T - This album wasn't instantaneous for me but grew on me more than any other album this year. It's one I find that I keep coming back to. 8. Wildness - S/T - Great debut, good mix of songs and another that seems to be a grower for me. 9. Degreed - S/T - Another consistent album from these guys. Shakedown might be my favorite tune this year. I really don't like the piano ballad though and the second half falls off a little bit for me knocking this down. 10.Romeo Riot - Sing It Loud - Solid melodic rock, good variety. It's down on the list as I don't think it really blows me away but it's definitely a solid album and enjoy listening to it. I dare say it might be my favorite Kivel release. Two that just missed for me were Warrant's Louder Harder Faster and Art Nation's Liberation. I enjoyed both those albums at times this year but haven't had much desire to go back to them since filing them away. Will be interesting to see others lists to see stuff I've missed that I might like. A couple that have shown up on other lists I've given some time to are Confess and Code Red but those just haven't clicked with me enough to buy them. I've been real close with Confess as there are a few tunes I like.

Link below. Really awesome tune and think my favorite part is getting Erik involved on vocals.

Saw this review and just thought I'd share it here as it's one of the few reviews I've seen on this album and it's pretty well written IMO. This album doesn't really seem to be getting talked about much on the various sites I follow for some reason and feels like it might be getting a bit overlooked. I'm liking it a lot. I mostly get a vibe of it being some combination of Eclipse with some of the riffs, Palace with some of the keys and some H.e.a.t-like choruses/melodies. https://etainmentnewsreviews.wordpress.com/aor/aor-reviews-2017/wildness-wildness/ Back in the 90’s, AOR had pretty much ran its course for me. Don’t get me wrong, I still loved the old bands but not many new ones made any impact on me. Sweden had some record companies, like MTM and Empire, that put out loads of AOR/melodic rock bands throughout the 90’s but I had trouble finding anything interesting out of all those releases. It’s not like I succumbed to grunge or nu-metal like so many others, I still loved the classic hard rock, metal and arena rock bands that struggled, but in AOR too much were underwhelming, badly produced and sounded like the same old same old. But something happened in the mid 2000’s. A new generation of musicians appeared, young men and women that had looked through their parents’ record collections and found their albums from the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s, liked what they heard and saw and picked up instruments and formed bands. New blood. New passion for old music and decided to take those songs and that sound, update it and make it their own – and it worked. And yours truly found his way back to genre again. And then some! In Scandinavia – and especially Sweden – new bands popped up like mushrooms in the forest and genres, often spat on and laughed at by pretentious know-it-alls, like glam, sleaze, arena rock and AOR was given a second coming and all of a sudden, the last laugh was on them. With those genres not being looked on as a pariah anymore, every old rock band and their mother reunited – and still do – some better than others, some even better than in their hey day. Today, trends in rock are pretty much gone, it’s ok to dig everything from fluffy AOR to black metal at the same time – and the world of music is bettered for it. And that’s what it takes – new blood that loves what they do and doesn’t have a past to catch up with them. Of course, there will always be hangers-on, musicians that only wants to be a part of a certain bandwagon and lately, there have been a bit of an overkill in those areas as well. But new bands keep forming and the latest band to join the AOR / melodic rock circle is from Sweden – and they are called Wildness. Wildness started out back in 2014 by drummer/song writer/producer Erik Modin as a solo project but that changed when guitarists Pontus Sköld and Adam Holmström joined. The guys found lead singer Gabriel Lindmark through an ad and the project evolved into a real band where everyone participate in song writing and production. They don’t have a steady bass player yet but they hope to fill that spot before touring begins. The band signed with AOR Heaven, brought in producer Erik Wigelius (Wigelius, Care Of Night) and got to work and after many years of hard work, the result is finally out. Since I feel that the AOR quota is starting to become quite full, I must say I’m a bit jaded in my expectations when it comes to new bands from that genre. I mean, we’re pretty close to an AOR overload where new bands won’t sound that exciting and fresh anymore and personally, I’m not that easily impressed anymore. They kick off with “War Inside My Head”, a big, fat, heavy AOR-rocker with a chorus so catchy it’s insane. While this is AOR by all means, it’s also pretty ballsy and tough and I’m thinking FM meets Shy on a more hard rock basis. Peeps, this is brilliant stuff and it should be a single because I smell a hit here. “Stranger” follows and it is a more traditional Scandi-AOR track. It’s upbeat and straight forward but also a bit pink n’ fluffy with a smooth melody. The chorus is very distinct and direct, the catchiness is all over the tune and it sticks right off the bat – brilliant! “Shadowland” rocks things up a bit more and the tune comes in a fast pace, kicking and screaming the AOR way – glossy and smooth with all the most brilliant AOR arrangements in the world and another sticky sweet refrain. Awesome! Latest single “Alibi” tags along with a really big keyboard sound, distinct guitars and a huge sound scape all over. To me, the tune comes off like a H.E.A.T. meets Strangeways with a mind-blowing chorus that nail itself to my brain. Catchiness deluxe, amazingly good and a natural choice as a single! “Collide” – one of two songs that have been previously released as singles and re-worked for this album – comes with a more hard rock feel with touches of AOR on top. The riffing reminds me some of Eclipse and it sports a H.E.A.T.-like main melody. It’s very direct and quite ballsy – the heavier guitars gives the song some well-needed toughness and the very catchy refrain really brings the tune home – how damn fantastic! “Highlands” breaks out from the rest here – the album’s sore thumb, if you will – and comes in a more classic rock suit. I hear a lot of Thin Lizzy here and also Blood From Stone era Dare albeit with some clear arena rock vibes added. It’s the roughest song on the album and my favorite. Hot damn! We go into ballad-land with “Your Last Romance”, a slower-paced melodic rock tune. More a half-ballad, to be honest and even though it’s catchy enough, it doesn’t strike as hard as the rest. “Down In The City” is big, tough and kicking AOR, very distinct with a punch and a refrain that hits hard and fast – very spot-on and memorable. Great! “Falling Down” is another tune that comes with a bit of Eclipse influence – foremost the fast-paced, chugging, metal influenced guitars and comes off more like melodic hard rock than actual AOR. I love it when AOR gets heavy and rough so this tune hits a home run with me. “The Flame” is a bona fide power ballad with some heaviness added and there are traces of jazzy arrangements and bluesy vibes waved in. The main melody goes right to the head and the chorus is pure super glue. It’s big and bombastic and I find myself thinking of Steelheart here – so very 1991. Gotta love it! “Welcome The Night” reminds me somewhat of Palace, another quite new and great Swedish AOR band, but more melodic hard rock than AOR. It’s guitar-driven but also very melody oriented and catchy as hell – very good. Closing track “Turning The Page” was also previously released and re-worked for the album. It’s very smooth and glossy, like a poppier Treat meets H.E.A.T. – and brilliantly catchy – a killer track with a big hit-potential. Not easily impressed anymore, huh? Well, I still think I’m not but Wildness impresses the living daylight out of me. While there’s nothing really new under the table here – AOR is a genre where it’s very hard to be original – Wildness still have their identity and more importantly, they have fucking brilliant tunes. When you write songs this good and brings on shitloads of hooks, catchier than catchy refrains, have great musicians and a killer production, who gives a shit if you haven’t reinvented the wheel? As for the production, it’s smooth, silky and clear but it also comes with an edge and some roughness, depth and dynamics, so not much to complain about there. Maybe they could have gone with a heavier sound and the guitars more upfront, but that’s not crucial for the album at all. If you’re not into AOR then this album is not for you but if you are, you’d be a fool not to give it a go. A clear contender for the best AOR/melodic rock album of the year! 9/10

Got this and been through it a few times. Liking the album well enough. It's a solid scandi melodic rock album...good melodies, keys and still edgy. It sort of reminds me of early Eclipse but vocals give it a unique sound. Vocals are sort of gritty and for me a tiny bit accented in spots. It's really not a big issue though and have a feeling I won't notice it much after more listens. Standouts for me are probably the songs we've heard...War Inside My Head, Alibi, Collide, Turning the Pages. I suspect in some other years the album might grab me way more but there's been so many good releases this year that i think I'm a little spoiled and the bar has been raised a bit. This will likely crack my top 10 for this year but really nowhere close to Midnite City, H.e.a.t, OD, Eclipse, Crazy Lixx, Harem Scarem, etc. Still a good debut album though and well worth checking out.

Agree also. I do see the "sameness" comment but it's just not bothering me at all and I'm finding enough in each song to differentiate them. And even though it may be a bit "samey", I pretty much love every song on it. There isn't a single other release this year I can honestly say that about and can pick a song or two off H.e.a.t, OD, Eclipse, Crazy Lixx , etc that doesn't do much for me. Yeah, it's a simple album but just really seems to hit my tastes perfectly.

Anyone have the Blue Collar Revolver CD? I've been looking to buy it but not finding it in the normal places. I've got MP3 download of this album recently and digging it. Would like to get the CD or maybe WAV files at least. I don't listen to a lot of this type of modern rock. Always enjoyed Hinder though and getting a similar vibe from some of these songs. Think I've seen on Facebook these guys have said they're working on getting prior releases re-issued on physical format.

I've seen order links are up for this album at AOR Heaven now. Hoping they ship a little early like they did with Midnite City. I had that album in my hands about a week ahead of the official release date.

New single from Station....More good stuff!

Not bad. Something to keep an eye on.

A fairly odd choice for the next song to share IMO. It's okay but for me personally, Twist Of Fate is probably my least favorite song on the album. I believe it's an Oliva Newton John cover song. I will say it's way better than the original lol. Just think there is far better stuff on the album.....maybe something like Streets of Babylon or Cry for example.

Really good. Have heard a handful of songs from this album and one thing that sort of has stuck out to me is that this has more "balls" than I was expecting. For some reason, I think my initial impression of these guys was that they were going to be more AOR-Lite-ish.....And that's clearly not the case. Fully expecting a great release with this one.

I saw something that said Rob Wylde wrote the song about him. Apparently he moved to the US for awhile at one point and then went back to the UK after a number of years and everything had changed. He said that was the inspiration for the song. Great tune. Probably my favorite song on the album.

Nice!

Had done the same thing. Originally ordered Midnite City through Amazon but switched to AOR Heaven when they announced they were in stock and would ship out early. I had mine a week before it was released. Hoping they do something similar with Wildness as I'm planning to pre-order that one at AOR Heaven as soon as links become available. I do like Romeo Riot well enough but it won't be a top 5 album for me this year. However, still feeling like Midnite City is battling for my favorite this year along with H.e.a.t and Crazy Lixx.

Couple more tunes from the album: Album is #1 for me this year.....Just can't get enough of it. It may be a tiny bit samey but doesn't bother me at all. Perfect throwback melodic rock.

Yep...really like as well. Only song I don't care for is the piano ballad...needed to pick up in the middle. Just a boring tune. Rest is great though and still feel like Shakedown is my favorite song this year.

Really liking what I've heard from this album...gonna be another winner to close this year out.

Got this today and have to agree...really good album. A few times through and I dare say this is my favorite Kivel release. It's super melodic, production sounds crispy clear, great vocals/harmonies and guitar work also stands out to me. Room to Run has grown more on me and also really like Streets of Babylon, Sing It loud, Cry, Same...Also two ballads are really well done. It's sort of like Tango Down meets Far Cry but honestly, feels better than either of those to me. Great stuff.

I did get a bit of the samey feel the first couple time through this so can understand that comment. That said though, I've felt that less the more I've listened and the songs have sort of separated themselves for me. Agree it's not really groundbreaking and the songs aren't that complex. It is pretty simple but it's simple done well IMO. The whole thing just hits a sweet spot for me I guess and while it's not groundbreaking, it still feels different than most of all the other stuff I've listened to this year. For a debut album that probably had a very limited budget, it's all that more impressive IMO.