When discussing my late night driving music choices in my last review, I didn’t plan on the review that followed it to reflect the other side of said spectrum. Indeed, No Way Out, the debut album from the latest Frontiers curated supergroup, The Switch, is an easygoing AOR release. I’m sure you could’ve figured that out from the moment the words “Frontiers” graced your screen, or at the very least the hyper-retro Stranger Things aah cover art that graces this release. Whereas most Frontiers franken-bands boast rock titans of yesteryear, The Switch is actually an outfit featuring members of modern day melodic rock faves like Vega and Nitrate.
Admittedly, I’ve been a very casual fan of both acts over the years. Neither band have been previously featured on these here virtual pages, but their songs have popped up on various Spotify daily mixes, leading to subsequent inclusion on my personal AOR mega-mix. I figured to myself, “Since I already enjoy what I’ve heard from the members main outfits, chances are I’ll enjoy what they do together.” Now this might be a bit of an ideological flaw, as there’s no shortage of supergroups who have been anything BUT super. However, in the case of The Switch, I’m happy to report that their debut album, No Way Out, is super!
Unlike many euro AOR albums today, No Way Out is unique in that it is a full fledged AOR album, devoid of the usual melodic metal/euro power metal trappings that so many AOR acts find themselves toying with in this current landscape. Even at its most rocking and riff-dominant moments, the album bears a stronger resemblance to the streetwise anthems of Loverboy or Night Ranger than say Pretty Maids or Helloween. Nostalgic rockers like “Play the Game”, “Hangin’ on to Seventeen”, and “Young Gun” cleverly balance hard rock riffage, nostalgic synths, and poppy hooks, evoking that classic ’80s AOR feel with ease.
There are occasional curveballs. The opening “Danger on the Loose”, with its early ’90s adult contemporary pomp à la Bryan Adams, certainly took me by surprise. Of course, there are the inevitable otherworldly synth-fueled ballads in “Search for Love” and “One Night with You”, both of which are dreamy beyond compare. Yet at the crux of No Way Out are those feelgood melodic rockers that make you want to drive aimlessly on a summer night, the breeze in your hair and not a care in this world or the next.
I have to hand it to The Switch, as No Way Out sounds far from a phoned in, here today, gone tomorrow supergroup. These guys invested as much time and effort to the songcraft and production of this album as they would any album from their primary vehicles, and that speaks volumes, even if there’s little stylistic deviation between this here venture and their main ones. As summer continues to fade into the rear view mirror, it’s albums like No Way Out that leaves this metal album reviewer nostalgic for a simpler, happier time. I’d be shocked if you didn’t feel the same.
7 out of 10
Label: Frontiers Records
Genre: AOR
For fans of: Loverboy, Night Ranger, Work of Art