Band:	Vagh
Album:	Sands Of Time
Style:	Hard rock, Heavy metal
Release date:	2002

01. Tricky
02. Book Of Shadows
03. Sands Of Time
04. Blue Collar Proud
05. Hypnotized
06. Alison
07. Coldblooded Lover
08. Sleepwalking
09. Born Yesterday
10. In The Heat Of The Night

Oh, the eighties, it was a time were Melodic Rock, Hard Rock and AOR (Adult Oriented Rock), were at the top, well, and so were those infamous Glam Metal bands, that everyone has listened and loved once, unless you're a child who grew listening Pear Jam, Korn or other modern stuff.

I'm not so old myself, but I grew up listening bands like Iron Maiden, White Lion, Cinderella, Slaughter and so, my inspirations were mostly the NWOBHM (the new wave of British Heavy Metal, for those who doesn't know) and the Hard Rock scene, later on I moved on to harder terrains, but the roots always remains, that's why sometimes I can't give the back to a fine release of Hard Rock.

Robin Vagh is Swedish guy that loves all the old school, and decided to record an album, a solo project with all the eighties spirit and a touch of modern times.
The album is pure home-made eighties Hard Rock, with the cheese that comes with that (the uooooo uoou's, the naaah na-na-na-naaah, and the yeahh-yeahhh's ) so if you're against that kind of music, stop reading and get yourself a fine release of anti-cheese Death Metal.

As I was saying, the album is music out from the eighties, catchy choruses, melodic guitar solos and nice keyboards.
The album starts with an instant classic "Tricky" has all the elements of the "happy" Hard Rock song, the one that puts you in a good mood, "Book Of Shadows" is another classic composition of the eighties, the part that the guitars cease all activity, and there's the singer only accompanied by the bass and drums is a classic arrangement, although the chorus is really simplistic and kinda boring, the rest of the song is fine.

"Hypnotized" reminded me of Journey or even Toto, the keyboards are great in this one, the Power Ballad of the record is "Alison" a great song, but the best part of this song is that the vocals are handled entirely by a woman, Noomi Stragefors, does the job with no problem and really makes of this one a wonderful song.

It was a nice trip down to memory lane hearing this album, I'm sure that not everybody will like this album, but as for me, I liked it, is not the most innovative piece of Hard Rock around, but it surely brings back the memories.
If you want a nice Hard Rock album with nice guitar playing and a healthy dose of cheesiness, take a look at Vagh and his Sands Of Time.