MISS BEHAVIOUR – Heart Of Midwinter

What initially started out as a weekend project of fun in 2003 for five guys from Sweden, has suddenly flourished into a respectable band in 2006. When Miss Behaviour released a demo on their Web site in 2004, the band received such rave reviews that they decided to take things a bit more serious and deliver a full-length album, the result being Heart Of Midwinter, which weaves the tale of one man’s faith in a cold and unpleasant society, the society of “Midwinter.”

The band’s promos make light of the fact that the main influences of their music come from 80’s Rock acts like Journey, Magnum, and Europe. Some of that is evident here, but on a majority of the tracks the band play Melodic Rock with more of an “epic,” almost orchestrated feel, and the keyboards provide a dash of Pomp here and there.

Suspiciously, the album opener, “The Shine,” starts off with a melody line that sounds an awful lot like the opening acoustic melody in Ten’s “The Name Of The Rose.” The track very quickly breaks into a slow-paced epic wall of sound with thick, razor-sharp guitars and a big beat followed by a Pomp-sounding keyboard solo wrapped up by an entertaining guitar solo. Not the most “energetic” opening track for an album, but hey, these guys are learning and this track could do well on the radio. “Precious Times” is a little more upbeat and starts out with a stabbing guitar line and an orchestral feel. This track is where another highlight of the band starts to emerge … the multi-tracked choruses that sound reminiscent of the chorus delivery style used by the band Styx.

The hands down highlight on this disc, though, is track three … “Dreams Are Cursed.” A driving guitar line, a strong chorus, and a strong vocal performance by Wetterhall fuels this one, all accompanied by Guifferia-like keyboards. All of these elements come together to create an epic and effervescent feel similar to the sensation of a classic Queen or Meatloaf song. The same holds true for tracks like “Make It Your Own Way” and “Runaway Man” (in which Wetterhall displays some vocal nuances akin to a young Dickinson).

The songs are melodic, but well-written to keep the listener’s interest … all delivered with hard-hitting (e.g., metallic guitar solos are prevalent), yet restrained, musicianship. Sure, there are a few ballads, albeit decent, nevertheless, all of this just feels like the tip of the iceberg when considering this band’s potential.

Bottom line, this is a commendable debut of slick, oftentimes catchy and well-written epic Melodic Rock. Presumably a lot of this project was self-financed or was created without backing by a big label. If this debut is considered “the beginning” for this band, then only great things can be expected from these guys. With backing by a big label, and their first album under their belt, their sophomore release can only be even more epic, polished, and spectacular. Nevertheless, this is definitely a band to watch in 2007!

Lineup

Mattias Wetterhall – Vocals
Erik Heikne – Guitars
Sebastian Gustavsson – Bass
Hampus Landin – Drums
Henrik Sproge – Keyboards