Band:	Token
Album:	Punch
Style:	Rock
Website:	http://www.token.se
Release date:	October 05, 2004
A review by:	Malcolm

01. Punch in
02. Tear Down The Wall
03. Free I'm Gonna Roll
04. Sometimes
05. Wake up
06. Falling
07. Dreaming
08. On The Move
09. Save Me
10. The Sin
11. Media Doll
12. Can't Heal
13. Turn Back The Time
14. Punch Out
15. Tear Down The Wall [Video bonus]

Let's continue the raid of Hardrock reviews, I mean, why break such a nice trend?
The band that's in the top of the list today is Sweden's Token, with their second album "Punch", the first with the new singer and the new drummer.

Token, that means "that" fool" (sloppy translated) was formed back in 1990, and after established themselves as a good act, through some music competitions, Token decided split up due to work and studies made it impossible to continue, for the moment.
Then, another nice summer day, the guys reunited and recorded a demo that the German Hardrock label MTM Music liked. A contract was written and "Tomorrowland" was released in 2002, with the excellent singer H.B. Andersson behind the mic.
And now, in 2004, the band is back again with "Punch", a modern AOR album, also the first with Mattias Ahlén (Vocals) and Patrik Johansson (Drums).

Ever since "Tomorrowland" was released I have been waiting for the successor, and now 2 years later, I finally got it.
But before listening to it, I read that they change singer, and once I feared that I wouldn't like it, mostly because a change of singer often changes the whole direction of the music.
In Token's case, it didn't happen, or at least not so much, this is still very melodic AOR with very good hymns, but it's also just in the beginning to change to a modern AOR sound, which can be hard to get, if you're so stuck in "Tomorrowland" as I am.

But for the vocal part, there's a quite big change, quite predictable, but it's not only against the bad way.
Sure Mattias isn't a H.B. Andersson, but he's still a very good singer, and his voice are really impression me on some songs, like "Media Doll" & "Can't Heal".
I heard that he even sounds like Dennis Readman in Pink Cream 69, but since I'm not a fan of them, or ever listen to them with 100% focus, I really can't verify or deny that.

So conclude it all, I'll say that I like the album, it's not as good as the debut, but I really think it deserve each AOR lovers attention for a while, at least check up "Tomorrowland" if you're fear that this isn't anything for you, just so you give 'em a chance, they deserve it, believe me.

Check Out: "Media Doll", "Can't Heal", "Turn Back the Time" & "Sometimes".