Capitalizing on the “I really dig these mp3’s” sensation that
\nI’ve been feeling since I first learned about the band Maryslim
\nearlier this year, I readily plopped down the cash to buy the
\nband’s sophomore effort,
\nSplit Vision<\/i>, from an independent dealer. I blindly toss
\ncash into purchases like this when I know a band’s pedigree is
\nsolid and the mp3’s sent to me by a friend of mine in Germany were
\nonly an appetizer for what I knew might be a sure bet.<\/p>\n
A few facts — the band is from Stockholm — a location that is
\ncurrently spitting out “real” rock and roll bands, playing
\ncreatively and passionately, at a rate as quick as the dollar’s
\nrecent decline in the world markets. Secondly, the Wild Kingdom
\nlabel is an offshoot effort of Calle Schewen’s former White Jazz
\nRecords company — a label that has introduced me to many artists
\nthat rate high on my list of current favorites. Lastly, the band’s
\nguitarist Kent Ax\u00e9n played in the Diamond Dogs for a spell
\nwhich just adds another element of sure appeal.<\/p>\n
Oh yeah. Of equal importance, perhaps\u2026..did I mention
\nthat I really liked a couple of mp3’s I had heard from Maryslim’s
\nself titled debut album?<\/p>\n
Right away, the first track on
\nSplit Vision<\/i>, “Walk Alone” offers up a veiled reincarnation
\nof Ted Nugent’s “Stranglehold” solo in various places throughout
\nthe song. By mere mention that I’m saying guitar solo in “various”
\nplaces speaks to the fact that the song arrangements on
\nSplit Vision<\/i> are varied and not repetitively boring.<\/p>\n
The vocalist, Mats MF Olsson, reminds me a lot of Goo Goo Dolls
\nvocalist, Johnny Rzeznik, but in a much more consistently
\nimpassioned way as he actually seems to sing with more meaningful
\npurpose. Complementing his vocals instrumentally are a slate of 12
\nsongs that are largely upbeat melodic rockers — the kind that are
\ntotally accessible as genre beaters. Easily, I can envision
\nmetalheads tolerating the Split Vision songs as much as I can see
\nthe casual listening post-teen female getting into these songs.<\/p>\n
And it’s not only Olsson that treats the songs on this album
\npassionately. Listeners will surely pick up on the tightly placed
\nguitar work — in particular, the riffing of Ax\u00e9n during the
\nlast minute of “Something to Rise”. Full of energy, closed eyes
\nwill suggest that it could as easily be Slash ripping his way
\nthrough the solo.<\/p>\n
Maryslim really only attempt to throw the brakes on the tempo
\none time with the performance of the last track on the album,
\n“Bring It On.” This shows the band at their worst as the ballad
\nreally hits no noticeable groove. I’m guessing even the band knows
\nthis as the track is conspicuously buried as the last track at the
\nend of the album.<\/p>\n
As equally distinctive in a positive way, the first single,
\n“B.T.L.” is definitely the legitimate choice from this album. By
\ncomparison to the other tracks on
\nSplit Vision<\/i>, Olsson’s voice comes through with a darker and
\nmore introspective tone before he starts ripping off the same
\naddictively airy anthemic-type choruses which steer the song back
\ninto the vocal formula that has makes this album so appealing.<\/p>\n
All in all,
\nSplit Vision<\/i> is really good stuff and has become my most
\nrecent testimony proving that downloading and file-sharing coupled
\nwith resourceful indie labels and small label music stores not only
\ncan function together but thrive in creating awareness for music
\nthat really matters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":26913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7105],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-38214","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-maryslim","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38214"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38214"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}