Swedish melodic rockers Blind Alley return with a new release some three years since Infinity Ends appeared on the AOR Heaven label. New CD Destination Destiny appears courtesy of Perris Records and features twelve tracks of highly polished melodic rock.

To my ears these tracks fall into two camps, the glossy keyboard driven AOR tracks which neither push the envelope or offend anyone whilst a few songs see the band turn up the amps a bit and relegate the keyboards to a supporting role.

The clean punchy guitar sound of opener Voices sets things off nicely and even has a faint hint of a Celtic twang about the solo. Silhouette is another fine rocker suggesting similarities to Dokken and Europe whilst two of the later tracks I Cannot Fight and Stone Cold Eyes have a touch of JLT era Rainbow about them. The One To Never Know is the big 80s style ballad with a gentle piano introduction building to the big chorus and effects laden Until I See is an extremely accessible and classy piece of pop-rock. Highlight of the album is the raunchy groove of Take Me Up which sees the band mix the heavier style with a highly infectious hook and produce something that is part early Whitesnake, part first album Giant.

There are a couple of tracks that are a bit weaker and the singer sounds a little strained at times on some of the heavier stuff but there's enough here to keep the melodic rocker happy. It won't be the album that breaks this genre back into the mainstream but its good enough to convince you that there's still a pulse and its not dead yet. If the band develop that heavier melodic sound then we may hear a lot more of them in future.

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Review by Bill Leslie