Bad Habit formed way back in 1986 although only guitarist Hal Marabel is left from the original line-up. Their last album 'Hear-Say' came out in 2005 on the sadly now defunct label MTM Music and luckily those lovely people at AOR Heaven have snapped this little beauty up.

Musically they play high quality and very melodic Scandinavian flavoured AOR with songs like 'I Don't Want You' and 'Let Me Be The One' full of harmony filled choruses and just enough keyboard flourishes to match the melodic guitar parts. 'Don't Want To Say Goodbye' is a cracking pop rocker similar to Harem Scarem in sound at times. Any of the songs on here are made for a summer's day and most if not all you could see easily being played live. The only slight quibble would be a couple of songs take some time to gel with the listener with the album going out on a whimper with 'I Need Someone' rather than a bang.

This is the band's best album to date which is no mean feat and like nearly all Scandinavian AOR/melodic rock albums you can buy with confidence. Although released in January I would think this will feature on a few fans year end 'best of' lists.

****½

Review by Jason Ritchie