Band:	Solna
Album:	Eurameric
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	2009
A review by:	Jeff

01. Ms. Eurameric
02. Blinded By the Rain
03. Celebrate
04. Where Are You Running
05. Feel Alive
06. Someone Else
07. Moment of Truth
08. Woman in Love
09. Light a Candle
10. Sent From Heaven
11. Dreams

Behind Solna there is one name to remember: Zane Pettersen. The drummer is the main compositor of this project which features however, great names of the Metal scene like Rob de Luca, Ralf Scheepers and Pamela Moore, famous for her work with Queensrÿche. "Eurameric" is the first release of Solna and if you like 80's - 90's music you should quickly have a look at it!

Like "Operation: Mindcrime", "Eurameric" begins with some spoken words and the similarity is just astonishing. Don't see some kind of "copy", this is just a nice and really cool way to give a real homage to the fantastic album released by Queensrÿche. But this is not the only similarity actually because this release also smells 80's and 90's music? The songs are melodic Hard Rock a bit Pogressive but even if the melody are really catchy like on "Blinded By The Rain" (the riff is simply great) or "Where Are You Running" there are also some ballads like "Feel Alive" which are simply boring in the hand. The problem doesn't come from the interpretation, this is not bad overall (even musically speaking I mean) but a bit kitsch and "old". "Eurameric" despites a lot of good melodies, riffs, arrangements etc sounds like a release recorded at the beginning of the 80's. And it's a bit problematic actually because even if some people will like it, a lot of other ones will be annoyed by this big musical influence. Is like an outdated dishes. This is not bad, you can maybe eat it but obviously it was better some time before? On the other hand, if you're a fan of the 90's I highly recommend it to you, this is really well done and near of the perfection in the genre.

As you can guess, the musicianship is just perfect, from the singers to the keyboardist, they're all good really. The recording is also really well done and the cover-art is not bad too (even if my friend Monowasp already did better ones in my opinion). This is really cool to heard Pamela Moore with something else than Queensrÿche but this is also funny to see that, after all, she still sings on a Progressive Hard Rock release. This is probably her favorite genre or she cannot be seen by compositors to sing for totally different genres? Whatever anyway, she does her best here and will convince all the ones who love her other projects and work.

"Eurameric" is not a bad release and if you like Queensrÿche, you'll like this album. As you know too, this is not refreshing or "new" and clearly "old" in its spirit. If you don't bother after all it should be ok but don't expect anything modern with this release. I don't mind and will listen to this album one more time because despite this problem, I don't have any problem with Solna? Humm.. you see what I mean?