The Radio Sun: Beautiful Strange

Australian melodic rockers The Radio Sun are back with a new album, their fifth in as many years, titled Beautiful Strange. Five albums in five years is an unprecedented pace for any band, but without a lot of touring opportunities down under, guitarist Steve Janevski (also of Black Majesty) and vocalist Jason Old (also of Starchase) have plenty of time to write and record. The band produced this one, once again enlisting Paul Laine (The Defiants) to mix the album. It was mastered by Bruno Ravel (Danger Danger).

If there’s a downside to The Radio Sun’s steady pace of albums, it’s that you don’t have a chance to build up anticipation, and there isn’t much mystery as to what you’re going to get. Beautiful Strange sounds a lot like Unstoppable, which sounds a lot like Outside Looking In. The upside is that those albums were both really enjoyable, and so is Beautiful Strange. It’s got those trademark infectious melodies, superb vocal harmonies and clean, classic melodic rock sound down perfectly. The touchstones continue to be Cheap Trick, Def Leppard, Marvelous 3 and Harem Scarem, so the end result is catchy, melodic, and sitting nicely between rock and pop.

Beautiful Strange is an upbeat, feel-good melodic rock experience start to finish. It does have its high points (or “higher points” since there aren’t any weak tracks). Leadoff rocker “Hold On Tight” sets the perfect tone and “As Long As You Want Me” would be a radio rock hit in a more perfect world. It’s the album’s middle section – “Miss Wonderful,” “Have You Got What It Takes” and “I Don’t Want to See You Cry” – that perfectly capture both the album’s energy and the band’s core sound.

I wasn’t quite ready to set Unstoppable aside, but Beautiful Strange is a very worthy follow-up and another demonstration of just how good The Radio Sun is. They’re one of the best recent bands in melodic rock, and any fan of catchy, radio-friendly melodic rock (think Harem Scarem, Vega, Grand Design and Romeo Riot) would do well to give Beautiful Strange a spin.