Blockbuster "Losing Gravity" Winning At Every Level!

Big. Pompous. Bombastic. Melodic. Memorable. Fun. Familiar. Loud. Original. These words perfectly describe the brand new album by the Finnish rock band Blockbuster. Their debut album on Frontiers Records entitled "Losing Gravity", proves that there are new note combinations that can be found.

Honestly I wasn't prepared for the level of songwriting and uniqueness of this record. Musically Blockbuster borrows from all the best things. Glam, hard rock, punk, pop, and lite metal all play a significant role in defining this band. Lead guitarist Elias Salo is unapologetic in his love for elongated chords. The band marries this guitar sound with a wall of vocals which include well placed shouts and hollers.

The arena is already packed out on track one, "Out In The City", with all of the aforementioned effects and a guitar solo that kicks some large buttocks. The production is remarkably clean. This only makes the ride more audible and enjoyable. "Gone By The Morning" is a two pronged guitar attack helped along by lead vocalist Aarni Metsapelto who also mans a guitar. Original riffs, addictive leads and complete musical thoughts. "Flammable" leans a tad toward punk as drummer Jaako Metsapelto is all over the kit, driving, crashing and leading the other boys through another tasty melodic rock nugget. "Back From The Shadows" is another jump and shout anthem, that features an infectious bass line from Joonas Arrpe who is juxtaposed by another string breaking electric guitar solo.

"Losing Gravity" finds the band in mid-tempo acoustic guitar bliss. The level of pop proficiency here is Abba-like. This might be the best new song I've heard this year. And check out that extended guitar solo. Lots of depth and emotion there. The seat belt sign lights up again for the rockin' "Sweet Mary Jane". Is this a girl or some substance bringing your soul down to the depths of depravity? The chord changes are fascinating and rival Angus Young's best ideas. "Somebody To Shock" continues the perfect string of melodic greatness with more sweet choruses and catchy refrains. It might take another band a whole career to come up with this many good songs.

"Walking Like A Dog" borrows a bit from Smashmouth's "Walking On The Sun". It's not that the chords are all that similar, it's more the structure of the song, and the chunks of audio candy that create a mild deja vu experience. "Move" was the first track I was able to hear from this album and it's got hit single written all over it. Probably because of the solo vocal parts, the giant hook and the glam infused chorus. There are na-na-na-na-na-nas and even a Queen lyrical reference. We've arrived on planet perfect album.

"Would You Do It Again" has a fuzzy guitar tone that opens up and gets bigger as the song builds. Stylistically taking from new wave and punk but still mainstream and melodic. "Bulletproof" is track 11. And the band hasn't lost a step. The opening riff is a cross between "Candy-O" by The Cars and something by Led Zeppelin. And that might be an apt way to summarize all of the mysterious mayhem on "Losing Gravity". You could be a Kiss fan and love this. You could be a Thin Lizzy fan or a Def Leppard fan or prone to the pop rockers of the 80's.

Blockbuster is my favorite album of 2019 thus far. There are 11 potential hit singles. There are 11 very catchy, original songs in a world where people are starting to think all of the good note combinations have been used up. Not so. Blockbuster has raised the bar for this current generation. It would not be out of place to say this is on par with what Boston did on their debut album. They obviously picked their band name correctly. This is a Blockbuster.