From Sweden, Johan Steensland is probably best known to prog rock fans through his YouTube channel Johan Steensland Music, and in September released his rock-opera, Crossfade. There is a Bandcamp page at https://johansteensland.bandcamp.com/album/crossfade where you can see details of how to obtain physical copy, if that is your preferred form of media, and you can also pop along to Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/album/3OxmkvQR5ylQPz0Zk8QC3n?si=3Q5O-oYUTFuC84Rjdm9NnA if you are content to stream.

The album is his first full-length work, a 54-minute progressive rock-opera, as I have noted before a form growing in artistic popularity in recent times, and it is about Joseph and Linda and what happens in the aftermath of their turbulent break-up. Guesting on the album is Anton Lindsjö and Ola Strandberg (both HFMC), Owe Eriksson, and Jennifer Anderson. The artwork is by the ubiquitous Ed Unitsky.

There are fourteen tracks here, and as with every album of this form, it needs to be listened to as a whole. I am not going to dissect every track but provide you with a flavour of what you are likely to hear.

We start with the obligatory “intro”, or what we would normally call the overture. Instantly, what you notice is not a grandiose set of notes, but more of a commercial progressive pop/rock feel, something that a Mike and the Mechanics might produce, for example (this is not a derogatory comment, as regular readers here will know).

Throughout, there are some fine bass licks, with some jazz fusion tendencies poking through with these, and the playing indeed throughout is consummate. Steenland’s vocals are descriptive, whilst Anderson portrays a bitter other half effectively, and the keyboards certainly provide for good soundscapes. At times, it falls into a narrative mode, with the arguments between the protagonists coming across as a musical soap opera, such as the pacy Doorbell when the ex-lovers tear strips out of each other, with whirling synths and guitar riffs competing for attention.

We also get some Smithsesque miserabilism, particularly on I’m All To Blame, which does have nice guitar licks after the scream of “I want you back”.

I have embedded Linda’s Decision below, a jaunty song with nice vocals by Anderson telling of the choices she has made, noting the commercial sensibilities underpinning musically, and it is my favourite song here. It is particularly effective as a mid-narrative piece.

The follow-up track, Do You Love Me is a short dramatic orchestral song, and is very strong leading into Stay, that eternal plead to a disaffected lover. The orchestration on both is extremely effective, and I have also embedded them here for you to enjoy. My feeling is that this album is at its strongest in moments such as this, as opposed to pop/rock only, to which the narrative returns with The Inner Voice of Sense, a sort of dramatis personae confessional.

The conclusion of the album brings the story nicely to an end. We Thought It Was Love is a mix of a suitably sad ballad with the sensitive female voice set against the harsher spurned male, and I like it. The final track, I Am Me, so the catharsis in the work, is also the longest at just over six minutes, Joseph fighting his way back from the depths of despair in a suitably dramatic piece with swirling keys, thumping drums, emotional riffs - you get the picture.

A reviewer should always provide a frank appraisal of work he is sent, so, in that vein, this is probably not an album that would tempt me into longer term listening, but that is not to say it doesn’t have its merits. Very well played, sounding sumptuous, and telling a story rooted in realism, as opposed to the sword and sorcery type of opera, for those who like such albums, you will find a lot to enjoy here. Give it a whirl on Spotify to see what you think.