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Yep Great tune and this might be my favorite Degreed song that they've done. Keep waiting for details on when this album will get released....automatic pre-order for me.

Good thread... Really wish there were a melodic rock station on Sirius that would play newer stuff like H.e.a.t, Eclipse, Crazy Lixx, etc, etc. Sirius had just about every other genre of music covered except newer melodic rock. There is literally everything....Raggae, Gospel, Classical, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, rap, country, 80's hairbands, alternative, new wave, adult elevator music, jazz...and many more. I just can't believe there wouldn't be a bigger demand for a melodic rock channel that played everything from Def Leppard, GNR, Bon Jovi etc....Through the newer bands I mentioned. I wish Hair Nation would consider at least expanding their format a little and playing stuff beyond about 1990. I'm so tired of hearing all the same songs over and over that I gave up listening to that channel. Basically, I've given up all radio and only listen to CD's or my own USB stick that has a mixture of everything I like. I used to spend some time steaming planet rock at one point a couple years ago but got away from that for some reason. I also used to listen to a few podcasts but also is a little bit more cumbersome than just turning on a radio station. Good thread though and would like to know if there's some good melodic rock radio out there somewhere.

Two changes I really liked....Van Halen with Sammy and H.e.a.t with Erik Gronwall. It seems like the majority of the time though it goes the other way and I don't like the changes.

Great song! Looking forward to this album as well. I really like how these guys are able to blend together so many elements in their music and Robin's vocals really give these guys a unique sound IMO. Agree with Zach above....What a year 2017 is looking like. It seems like just about every band I listen to these days is coming out with an album this year. That's great for this year but 2018 is bound to be pretty slow.

I just can't seem to get into this.... I'm willing to give new singers in bands a shot....For me personally I liked Van Halen better with Sammy than DLR, like H.e.a.t waaay better with Erik than Kenny....(Just the first two examples that popped into my head). But sometimes it just doesn't work for me and this is one of those cases. The music is pretty good but apparently I'm just not a big fan of Mason. I know the band wasn't left much choice and I applaud them for moving forward....But this just doesn't work at all for me.

1000 charades is better than both of those. Ive had Maniac stuck in my head. This needs a few spins but is actually pretty good. I agree with Glen on this one....After being through it multiple times now I do think it's pretty good. Ghost Town, Maniac, Thousand Charades are the highlights for me. The album sorta tails off a little bit in the middle for me with the slower songs and the cliche One Nation, but ends pretty good with the last 3 songs. Overall, I think the music is all pretty great on the album and the songs are pretty good. The one thing that holds it back a little bit for me are the accented vocals that are more prevalent on some songs than others. I think I notice it most on songs like When Stars Align and Take Me Home. Still pretty decent though and do like the direction they went with this album. I wonder also if other superb releases lately like TMF, Eclipse, OD, Crazy Lixx are sorta over-shadowing this a bit for me. There's some years where this album probably could've ranked fairly high for me but just too many other good releases this year....With more still to come.

I like that tune a lot also...cool groove to it. This album has continued to grow on me....even though I loved it on the first listen. I think it's passed Eclipse for my #2 album so far this year. I think Tokyo Motor Fist remains my favorite but really, really like this album. They did a great job.

Not a bad album...I think I like it a tad more than the first album. I like the slightly heavier approach and it think I hits my tastes a little more. Like Ghost Town, Manic, Kiss Up Kick Down, Thousand Charades, Paralyzed and What Do You Want. And really nothing that I flat out disliked my first time through. I'd say maybe Take Me Home and One Nation are at the bottom for me. Definitely not at the level of Eclipse or Crazy Lixx though. I do think the vocals hold these guys back slightly. They really do sound better when they're just belting those vocals out. I can see this growing on me some though.

Haven't gotten mine yet...arriving later today. This is exactly how I felt about the first album though...liked about half of it and also felt like the vocals held it back a little. I hated the ballad on that first album mostly because of the vocals. I really don't have all that high expectations for this. Just sorta hoping it's a bit more edgy than the first album. I've liked Ghost Town and even Real Me has grown on me some.

Anybody seeing or hearing much on this album? I was sorta expecting another song to get tossed out before the 4/28 release but haven't seen anything. I'm used to Frontiers releases getting all kinds of attention in my social feeds but this one being a non-Frontiers release doesn't seem to be getting the same treatment. I pre-ordered this....kind of a "whim" purchase. I had an amazon gift card to use so giving this one a shot....But really not sure about it. I liked about half of their debut album but really don't go back to it much. I really wasn't planning on getting this album when I first heard about it but I think the heavier, more modern direction of Ghost Town is what convinced me to order. I've seen only a couple reviews of this album and both have been very favorable and both reviews have said this should appeal to fans of H.e.a.t and Eclipse....So somewhat optimistic. Here is one review I saw: http://heavyparadise.blogspot.com/2017/02/review-art-nation-liberation-2017.html ART NATION is a melodic hard rock/AOR band from Sweden and it could easily be the next big thing from this country!! After the solid debut "Revolution" in 2015, Art Nation comes back with a new opus which is entitled "Liberation". "Liberation" includes all the things that we loved from the debut plus a catchier and more in-your-face sound that will make a big impact to this scene. First of all, if you are a fan of bands such as Eclipse, H.E.A.T., W.E.T. and Dynazty, then you HAVE to check out this band!!! It mixes perfectly all the great elements of the above mentioned super-bands plus their own identity and, at the end it creates a brilliant record that will end-up high in this year's top lists!!! The opening tune of "Ghost Town" is just perfect!!! Punchy, in-your-face and with a chorus line to die for this one must be played on maximum volume!!! Stunning!!! "Maniac" includes a big groove in it, a 'clever' an' loud chorus line that reminds H.E.A.T. and great arrangements! Do you want more? If yes then, check out "Kiss Up & Kick Down" and you'll be hit by a monstrous modern melodic rock anthem!! "When Stars Align", "One Nation" and "A Thousand Charades" are all three big and hook galore melodic rock gems with huge choruses, crunchy guitars, powerful vocals and in an one word...perfect!!!! Next, in "I'm Alive" we are dealing with yet another killer track. Starts slowly with a haunting melody and, when it comes to the chorus, it explodes!!! For sure, one of the best tunes that this band has ever recorded. "Paralyzed" is the heavier cut in this new record and it shows perfectly the abilities of this band to write heavier stuff also. To consume here, Art Nation with "Liberation" delivers an ultra-catchy, impressive, powerful and extremely melodic album!!! "Liberation" is a melodic rock piece of an art that can't be missed by any fan of bands such as Eclipse, H.E.A.T. and Dynazty!!!! Rating : 10/10

Pretty good summary of Danny Rexon talking about the various songs on the new album. Interesting to read how long some of these songs have kicked around and about artists that helped out on some of them. http://www.popmonitor.de/crazy-lixx-ruff-justice/ WILD CHILD The opening track is a mid-tempo, guitar-driven track with a distinct and memorable riff, reminiscent of guitar riffs in songs like “Witching Hour” (New Religion 2010) and “Psycho City” (Crazy Lixx 2014). It was written by yours truly in the fall of 2016 and features some awesome guest backing vocals by Michael Palace (Palace) and John Elliot (Confess). The chorus is melodic with lots of thick harmonies and a flowing riff below the vocals, with guitars and bass playing in unison, which makes it stand out a bit from other choruses we’ve done. Lyrically it’s a bit of a “good girl gone bad”-story with a twist – I’m sure you’ll figure it out when you hear it. One of the harder songs on the album but still with a surprisingly melodic sing-along chorus that should probably stick after the first listen. XIII The first of three songs that I custom wrote for “Friday the 13th – The Game” during the summer of 2016. This mid-tempo true 80’s hair metal tune is lyrically the most thematical since it’s directly about everybody’s favorite slasher villain; Jason Voorhees (the title XIII naturally referring to the number 13, in roman numerals). The song features one of my favorite riffs of the whole album and a really neat, spooky verse with some nice clean guitars and keyboard pads in the background. Chorus-wise it’s what you’d expect form one of these theme songs; melodic with a clear hook-line (“Ex triple eye – Friday night!”) and a cool memorable guitar / keyboard lick in between the vocal lines, which by the way are made massive by the excellent guest backing vocal performances by Swan Hellion (Black Rain) and Anders Ringman (Dreams in the Witch House). Some nice church organs in the post-chorus bridge makes the feeling complete. An overall catchy song that I suspect will become one of the fan favorites. A super guitar-solo by Chrisse Olsson on this one by the way, one of the best ones on the album in my opinion. WALK THE WIRE OK, I’m gonna’ go out on a limb here and call this one the hit and over all fan favorite of this album. This song was actually a demo for both Riot Avenue (2012) and Crazy Lixx (2014) and was written just after the release of New Religion in 2010. So why was it never featured on an album then, you might ask. Is it because it’s not good enough? Well not really. The main reason it wasn’t among the songs we recorded for Riot Avenue back in 2011 was that it simply didn’t fit the style we envisioned for that album at the time (there were other demos scrapped from it for the same reason, for example “Girls of the 80’s”, which was later of course recorded for our self-titled album in 2014). When time came to record once more in 2014, Walk the Wire felt a bit dated and we quickly filled the track list with newer stuff we wanted to do (though the song was close to being picked for recording). Then last year, we started talking about potential songs to record for “Ruff Justice”, Jens Lundgren had of course joined the band by then and he quickly made it clear that Walk the Wire was his favorite Crazy Lixx song of all time and that it just had to be on the new album. Now, months later, hearing the result, I do have to agree with him. With it’s great melodic guitar solo, signed Jens Lundgren, a soft guitar- and keyboard driven sound inspired by Stage Dolls’ self-titled album from 1988 and some really outstanding backing vocals by Michael Palace (Palace) and synthwave starlet Kristine (Kristine) this is probably the song I’m the most satisfied with, production-wise. So what kind of a song is this? Well, let’s just say that if you enjoy songs like “Blame it on Love” (New Religion 2010), “Girls of the 80’s” (Crazy Lixx 2014) and “Children of the Cross” (New Religion 2010) I bet you’re gonna’ love this one. SHOT WITH A NEEDLE OF LOVE The fourth song of the album is special in at least two ways. First of all it’s the only song on the album that I haven’t at least co-written, but in fact it’s the first ever Crazy Lixx song that has been written by someone else but the band members. Second of all, it’s the only song that hasn’t been written on this side of the millennium, instead it was composed back in 1989. So what’s the deal here? Well, this song was originally on a demo album by an American band called Pretty Boy (no, not Pretty Boy Floyd) who later got signed with Bon Jovi’s management, changed their name to Mariah and then released a totally different album as their debut. So, basically, this song was never officially released (at least not until about 20 years later when it was released on CD by a small independent label in the US). I heard it a couple of years ago and immediately fell in love with its simple, youthful, 80’s hard rock style. I suggested it as a possible track for the new album and it became one of the last to be recorded for Ruff Justice, but I personally think it fits like a glove. In fact, up to now, whenever I’ve asked people if they notice something different about this track, no one has yet guessed that it’s not originally a Crazy Lixx song, even if it was composed way before any of us had even picked up an instrument. A straight forward hair metal song with an infectious gang vocal chorus that’s easy to shout along to and a style that’s reminiscent of our first two albums. KILLER This is the second song specially written for “Friday the 13th – The Game”. Quite different from XIII in many aspects, it starts out with an eerie plucked guitar part with a nice clean guitar solo and lead vocals over it, but a minute or so into the song the distorted guitars kick in and what seemed to be a sort of ballad quickly turns into a mid-tempo hair metal chorus featuring gang vocals by Swan Hellion (Black Rain) and Anders Ringman (Dreams in the Witch House). The tempo goes down again for the second verse but picks up towards the chorus and the consequent awesome guitar solo by Chrisse Olsson and carries on through to the end of the song. Musically it’s a bit hard to compare it with earlier Crazy Lixx stuff but if I’d have to I would probably say it’s a bit like a mix of “Children of the Cross” (New Religion 2010) and “Lock Up Your Daughter” (New Religion 2010). A solid, somewhat different, horror-themed hard rock song that I think fits like a glove into the mood of Friday the 13th. HUNTER OF THE HEART Track number 6 is probably the grooviest song on the album with a distinct, off-beat hi-hat drum beat and borderline funk metalesque guitar riffing. It’s a pretty straight forward, yet energetic rock song with that classical “man-eater” theme in the lyrics. The song contains one of the coolest breaks on the album in my opinion, a cool melodic riff part that ends with a quick guitar solo before kicking off the final chorus. Ever since I first demoed the song in the fall of 2016 it’s been somewhat of a favorite, perhaps in big part because it’s one of a kind on this album, and I often find myself putting on the album from this song on (what would be side B if this was a vinyl record). The song probably draws some resemblance to tunes like “Rock and a Hard Place” (New Religion 2010), “Sweet Bad and Beautiful” (Riot Avenue 2012) and “Vodoo Woman” (New Religion 2010) but I think that’s mostly because of the overall beat and tempo of the song and maybe to a lesser extent because of melodic similarities. All in all, a fun and groovy rock song with a lot of attitude and a great and somewhat unexpected middle part. SNAKES IN PARADISE This was the very last song written for the album but once I had the demo recording of it done in early December 2016 I knew this was the kind of song that the album really needed to feel complete. The fact that Frontiers chose it as the second single along with the overwhelmingly positive response it has gotten since its release on march 10th just proves the effect I imagined this song would have. It has also grown to become the favorite song of mine on ‘Ruff Justice’. The song itself is built largely around a guitar melody that is a reworked version of a demo that Chrisse Olsson showed the band earlier last year. I always thought the intro part sounded really cool and when I started to get the basic idea of a chorus in my head I knew straight away that it would fit well with Chrisse’s guitar part. The final melody part is actually quite a bit different than how it sounded on Chrisse’s original demo but the overall feeling of it remains and helped shape the mood of the song as a whole. Production wise we’ve gone for a pretty scaled down sound with not a lot of distortion or heavy guitars but more focused around clean guitars, keyboards and roomy drums. Both melodically and sound wise it bears resemblance to songs such as ‘Blame it on Love’ (New Religion 2010) and ‘Children of the Cross’ (New Religion 2010) and once again the backing vocal efforts of Michael Palace (Palace) and Swan Hellion (Black Rain) help lift the chorus to new heights. A mid-tempo, melodic rock song built around a memorable guitar melody. It would come as no surprise if this song became one of the top three most popular tracks from this album. IF IT’S LOVE Track number 8 is the only real power ballad of the album. It revolves heavily around a nice plucked guitar part throughout large parts of the song and features a lot of memorable and emotional vocal melodies. It starts off really smooth with just vocals and guitars for most of the first verse and starts to intensify for the chorus, in which Michael Palace (Palace) and Lindis Botolfsen help out with some awesome backing vocal parts. The song itself has been lying around for quite a while and I recall first recording the main plucked guitar part and vocal melodies around 3 years ago. After that the chorus was added probably a year later and the final lyrics were actually just finished at the time of the vocal recording, when we’ve already recorded all the instrument parts for the song. I’m glad the guys trusted me enough to record it even if they’d never heard the words for it. This is overall that essential hair metal power ballad that every album of this genre needs, in my opinion. Musically, it should cater to fans of songs like ‘Only the Dead Know’ (Riot Avenue 2012) and ‘Children of the Cross’ (New Religion 2010) with it’s mellow and somewhat sad felling and minor scale melodies. KISS OF JUDAS The demo for this song has been floating around since early 2013 and I remember coming up with the chorus and the main riff around Christmas 2012, which makes it one of the older songs on this album. It was suggested for the self-titled album (Crazy Lixx 2014) but by a narrow margin wasn’t considered a good fit along with the other songs we already had and thus was binned, that is until we started looking at material for ‘Ruff Justice’ back in early 2016. I’ve always felt this song had a lot of potential and I think the production and guitar playing by Jens and Chrisse really did the song justice, so I’m happy it finally made it unto an album. This is an up-tempo, melodic metal song with a lot of Iron Maiden-styled twin guitar melodies, which probably isn’t what we usually do. The song changes key into the chorus which gives it a dramatic lift and adds a lot of power to it, along with some thick gang vocals by Daniel Almqvist (Aerodyne), Swan Hellion (Black Rain) and John Elliot (Confess). This is a guitar driven, straight forward melodic metal piece that should appease fans of songs like ‘Heroes Are Forever’ (Crazy Lixx 2014), ‘Riot Avenue’ (Riot Avenue 2012) and ’21 ‘til I Die’ (New Religion 2010). LIVE BEFORE I DIE The last song on the album was actually the first one to be recorded, already back in 2015. After the departure of the previous guitarist pair, Andy and Edd and before Jens and Chrisse joined the band we had a bit of a down period and decided to record a new song to keep our minds on something else and to try out some new recording techniques and studio settings – the song was Live Before I Die. Now, since this was technically when the band didn’t have any guitar players, I did the rhythm guitar parts myself and then asked Andy (who had actually officially already left the band by then) to lay down the solo part. I also got Erik Mårtensson (Eclipse), Mats Levén (Candlemass) and Thomas Vikström (Therion) to help out with the backing vocals on the track. After it was done, it stayed unreleased, waiting for a good time to be used and that opportunity came along when we were contacted by GUN media in early 2016. They said they were working on a new Friday the 13th themed video game and wanted some authentic sounding 80’s hard rock music to use in the game. I immediately became interested and started to think about new compositions that would fit the style and theme of the game. Only problem was that the deadline for the song was quite tight since they wanted to use it for an early trailer for the game and there was really no way we could write and record new stuff in that time frame. So I told them we had this one song that hadn’t been previously used and that they could check it out and if use it if they liked it, but if they did we would then agree to write some custom written songs for the game. Well, it’s safe to say the enjoyed that first song and the rest is, as we say, history. A short, straight to the point, melodic, mid-tempo hard rock song reminiscent of Bon Jovi in the 80’s and early 90’s.

........and it probably will I'm still slightly struggling with TMF production - it isn't bad as such, just a bit weird. Can't put my finger on it, but it sounds a bit 'hollow' ?? When I listen to it after Eclipse or Brother Firetribe or One Desire it just sounds a bit shit. I do agree with you on that production on TMF and I get the same feeling listening to it. I think for me it's mostly with the drums. The album definitely could've benefited from a richer, more full sound. I think also that's partly why I'd put the Defiants ahead of it. That album just sounds fantastic to my ears from a mix perspective.

Two horse race for me between Defiants and TMF. I really didn't care much for Poley's solo album outside of a few songs. Really close call. For me, TMF has some awesome songs. If I had to rank all my favorite songs at one time from the Defiants and TMF, the top 2 or 3 might be TMF songs. However, I voted Defiants just because I think the album might have a little more meat to it top to bottom. Basically a coin flip though. The Defiants was my favorite album last year and TMF is my favorite so far this year. For me, H.e.a.t is potentially the only one that might be able to knock it out of my top spot.

Agree with Glen here...Think this is my favorite CL album. Also agree that this one finishes strong....Much stronger than the last album did. Agree with Geoff too about the ballad....very well done. For me, it's just solid from top to bottom. I liked their last album a lot but it sorta fell off in the second half for me. I also loved New Religion but that album also had a few tunes I find myself skipping past. I really like the throwback vibe of this and for me these Friday the 13th songs sorta set the tone for the album. Only been through it once so need to see how it settles. At the moment I'd still put it behind Tokyo Motor Fist and Eclipse on my list. It'll be ahead of One Desire though...Much more instant for me and suites my tastes a little more. These guys are something....Seems like they have a different lineup every year and still manage to put out a fine album after they almost seemed close to calling it quits. Kudos to Danny Rexon who obviously has the vision and is a pretty darn good artist in my book....Even if he isn't the best singer out there. I think his voice suites the songs on this album just fine.

One I just ran into recently while loading tracks on a thumb drive was Inferno by both H.e.a.t and Treat.

Also have never really had much around me. I used to have a place in Upstate NY called the Water Street Music Hall that would bring in acts...I remember seeing Ratt there, Dirty Looks and a few other bands. I'm not sure if they're even still open and if they are they aren't bringing in anything of interest. I also had a nice little outside venue that popped up about 1/2 hour from me outside Buffalo, NY a few years ago. They really had a great thing going bringing in many classic acts like Winger, Firehouse, Killer Dwarfs, Slaughter and many others. I even saw Autograph and Station there last summer. However, they ran into many legal problems with people complaining they were violating some noise ordinance or something....That was conveniently passed after the establishment was already up and running. So I think that place is probably about done. Right now, it's pretty tough finding venues around me that will host "smaller" classic rock bands or newer bands trying to play that music. I'll get big package tours like Def Leppard or whatever. But there is nowhere around me where older bands like Warrant, Trixter, Firehouse or newer bands like Station will even play. Basically, my only shot to see many of those bands is if I travel to a festival like Melodic Rock Fest in Chicago or something....Or if I want to travel to NYC/NJ area.

Awesome. Really looking like it's going to be a strong album from these guys.

Absolutely agree. Love these guys sound and I find that I keep coming back to this album. I still do think they've flown pretty under the radar on many sites I follow...Don't seem to get nearly the press that the Frontiers releases seem to get. If they come out with another album it'll likely be an automatic pre-order for me.

I like this tune...Might be my favorite that I've heard so far.

My first impression also was that it was very poppy...But I've moved away from that stance. There's definitely some modern pop elements in some spots but also plenty of good rock moments and solos as Glen said. I really like some of the solos in these songs....It's what gives the album the edge IMO. I would like to see them doing more so he like Buried Alive though...Think these guys sound great on the heavier, edgier stuff.

Interesting...Like this one a lot more than the last song. Sure seems like they're taking a heavier approach based upon the first two songs....Which is fine with me.

No Way Back or whatever...yeah thats the one. Killer song. That and Jaded are the highlights for me. But lets face it they are all in the 8.5 to 9.5 territory. Quite simply an excellent album. Agree...Excellent album. This album just flies by for me when I listen to it....Exactly the kind of melodic harder rock I like. For me, Never Look Back leads the way...Followed closely by Killing Me and Jaded. Really nothing that I don't like though. Hope I get the chance to see these guys live someday. They've been in the US a couple times but wasn't able to get to those shows. I'm hoping Andrew gets them for MRF5 as I'm planning to attend that.

Haven't heard 4th and 5th but my top 3 right now would be the same....TMF, Eclipse and One Desire. Has been a great start this year and still plenty of good stuff to come....Crazy Lixx, H.e.a.t, Station, maybe Degreed....Really think this will wind up being one of the best years for melodic rock in quite some time....at least for me Might be rough next year though as it seems like every band I like listening to has come out with an album in the past year or will be this year.

Not much talk about this one yet today.... Pretty solid album from top to bottom. I do think it gets a bit "samey" in spots though and would like a bit more variation in song structures. I also still don't feel like this album has quite the "epic" feel I got from the last one. That said though, still really like it and there isn't anything I get the urge to skip past.

One out a bit in left field for me is Bowling For Soup... I'm a melodic rock guy through and through and never got into any type of pop, pop punk or whatever. However, I happened across a couple of these guys songs at one point about 15 years ago and really just found myself being entertained. They're just sort of a guilty pleasure or diversion and the wife really digs their music as well. While they do have some silly songs I think they've got some great songs also. Also dig seeing them live as every show is different and never know what off the wall stuff they'll do and say. Much different than say Def Leppard where if you've heard one show on a tour you've basically heard them all.