HFMC of course stands for Fröberg & Musical Companion and Eternal Snapshots is the sixth album of the Flower Kings singer and guitarist Fröberg and what an amazing album this is, as Eternal Snapshots, a concept album - dealing with questions such as how we do become who we are, or is destiny involved in our lives? - is really doing overtime in my CD player and my wife thinks that I am hooked on this album indeed! Hasse's musical partners are: Sampo Axelsson (bass guitar), Kjell Haraldson (keys), Anton Lindsjo (guitar) and Ola Strandberg (drums) and these excellent musicians have played with guys like Joe Lynn Turner, Glenn Hughes, Michael Schenker and Jeff Scott Soto, so highly regarded indeed! But the sound is definitely Flower Kings like - maybe even better? - and that is of course due to Hasse's very recognisable and excellent singing. This amazing album opens with All I Wanted To Be Part 1, which almost sounds like Genesis in the beginning before the breathtaking guitar solo/melody of Anton Lindsjo defines this heavenly track and this one is 100%, unmistakably HFMC. One of the most infectious and "catchy" songs of this album follows, as Deserve To Be Happy features a rather brilliant vocal arrangement indeed! No Messiah, the longest song of the album, features a true eighties vibe with a lovely mix of soaring keys and highly melodic guitar solos and hooks; a definite highlight of this album and a Hasse Fröberg milestone indeed. Hasse makes the listener stay in the eighties with the song, Once In A Lifetime, a track with a true hard rock feeling in the veins of Foreigner, Queen and Journey, and this one is probably the most commercially appealing track of the entire album. Blind Dog is the next highlight here, as this one is again a hard rocking song and this time in the veins of the seventies super band Led Zeppelin; a brilliant song indeed, so again hats off to Hasse as this one is sheer musical bliss for more than six minutes, so play it LOUD! Eternal Slapshots comes full circle with All I Wanted To Be Part 2, ending this album in a formidable way indeed! This is one of the best albums I have heard in a long time and as I stated in the beginning of this review, this superlative album is doing overtime in my CD player and I am sure that Eternal Snapshots will end up in my top three albums of the year 2024; what a blast, love it indeed; well done Hasse!! ***** Martien Koolen (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
