Reach - The Great Divide (2018)

And then there were three. Formed in 2012 as a four piece, Sweden's Reach hit the music scene with their 2105 debut, Reach Out For Rock. The album got a positive reception, giving them opportunities to tour Sweden, England, and Europe. They were also invited to play some important festivals including Hard Rock Hell and Frontiers Rock. In 2017, the band trimmed down to a power trio with founder and guitarist Ludvig Turner jumping behind the mic and adding a new bass player with longtime friend of the band Soufian Ma'Aoui (Houston, Palace). They return with their second studio album, The Great Divide, and it's a smoker.

In their music, Reach straddles that wobbly fence between melodic hard rock and heavy metal. Is it melodic hard rock with a metal edge or melodic heavy metal with a hard rock groove? Two sides of the same coin, really. But with a power trio, what's always amazing is how large the sound can be. Reach packs a wallop. They can be hard and heavy, yet filling their tunes with harmony, melody, groove, sweet refrains, and killer solos. Turner is a vocal force of some reckoning. He sings clean and melodic, yet with strength and range. His voice is the fourth member of Reach.

All the songs within The Great Divide are consistently interesting and entertaining. Here's some highlights. For songs that turn more on melodic hard rock with AOR accessibility, listen for Running On Empty, Off The Edge, and the quite catchy The Great Divide. The latter two songs have subtle, yet notable, synth layers. A sharper rocker comes with You Say, which has some metal edge in the riffage, brisk drumming, and then a ripping solo. Nightmare finds Reach leaning more to heavy, steady, metal, and the timbre of the song has a creepy foreboding tone that fits the title and content. Alternatively, One Life has a lighter tone, offering a steady, yet rising, groove, and Turner showing his range.

Overall, with The Great Divide, Reach has delivered another entertaining album of melodic hard rock, infused with a metal edge, and dropped into an AOR wrapper. Easily recommended. ~ review by Craig Hartranft

Marcus Johansson (Drums)
Ludvig Turner (Guitars & Vocals)
Soufian Ma’Aoui (Bass)

produced by Jona Tee (H.E.A.T) and mixed by Tobias Lindell (Europe, Avatar, etc.)

Track List:
01. Intro (0:50)
02. Into Tomorrow (3:20)
03. The Great Divine (3:43)
04. Live Or Die (3:04)
05. Nightmare (4:38)
06. Off The Edge (3:37)
07. One Life (4:45)
08. Running On Empty (3:40)
09. Shame (4:05)
10. You Say (3:11)
11. River Deep (6:19)

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