One Desire: self-titled (Frontiers)

At long last we have the self-titled debut from the much-hyped new melodic rock band One Desire. The Frontiers label has been pushing this Finnish band hard for the past few months, and One Desire does appear to be a proper band, not just the usual “throw ’em together” project. The band features guitarist/producer Jimmy Westerlund, vocalist Andre Linman (Sturm Und Drang), drummer Ossi Sivula and bassist Jonas Kuhlburg (Cain’s Offering).

One Desire (and I’m sorry, but they’re eternally going to be mistaken for teen pop act One Direction with that name) plays an interesting and very exciting brand of melodic rock. They definitely fit in with Frontiers mainstays like Work of Art and Eclipse, but there’s as much of a modern rock aspect to this album as there is a classic melodic rock vibe. It’s ultra-polished, very radio-friendly rock that feels poppy and still rocks out. After streaming the advance track “Hurt” more than a few times ahead of this album’s release, I was initially thrown by how poppy (much of) the rest of the album is. It really does work though. “Whenever I’m Dreaming” may sound like a Maroon Five song, but “Straight Through the Heart” and “Apologize” both hit that Eclipse meets Cruzh point, and “Buried Alive” is heavy as hell (and reminds me a bit of Leverage).

This one may actually live up to the hype. One Desire has a guitarist that knows his way around accessible, catchy melodic rock songs, a vocalist with a huge, pristine voice, and a rhythm section that pulls the whole thing together. This is an ideal album for fans of Eclipse, Brother Firetribe, Cruzh, Work of Art, Nelson, Art Nation and H.E.A.T. It’s not quite at the same level as the new Eclipse album, but I’d argue it’s right up there with the new Brother Firetribe.