Planet Alliance is the latest in the growing fascination for “all-star projects”, this time featuring one-time Ozzy Osbourne bassist Bob Daisley, Magnus Karlsson (Starbreaker, Last Tribe, Allen/Lande), Mike Andersson (Cloudscape) and Hammerfall pairing Magnus Rosen and Anders Johansson, as well as appearances by the likes of Jaime Salazar (Last Tribe), Janne Stark (Locomotive Breath), Carl-Johan Grimmark (Narnia) and Mattias “IA” Eklundh (Freak Kitchen) 

As soon as I saw that Magnus Karlsson was involved, especially in a writing capacity, I immediately got excited, hoping that he had followed up last year’s two standout releases Allen/Lande and Starbreaker with something a bit special for this year. 

You can immediately tell Karlsson’s influence and opening couple of tracks “The Real You” and “Remember Me” have all the hallmarks of the Allen/Lande epic, which I still regard as the best album released in the last 5 years. Indeed from these tracks, I was thinking that this could easily be “Son of The Battle”, but unfortunately the album overall never quite reaches the phenomenal heights attained by HardRockHouse.com’s album of 2005. 

I have to say that one of the main reasons for this is that in my opinion Cloudscape’s Mike Andersson, whilst a good vocalist, simply does not have the vocal abilities of either Jorn Lande or Russell Allen, let alone both of them together. 

There are also far too many extended guitar solos for my liking – there were guitar solos aplenty in The Battle, but I thought they never outstayed their welcome and fitted the songs perfectly. The ones on offer here, whilst superbly played, tend to take over virtually every song. 

Maybe I am being slightly harsh in criticizing this release simply for not being as good as the Allen/Lande one, but the styles are so similar that they are obviously going to appeal to the same audience and with Magnus Karlsson’s considerable talent and influence all over both releases, then comparisons are absolutely inevitable. 

Don’t get me wrong, this album is a release of genuine quality, with superb production handled by the highly-respected Anders “Theo” Theander. If you haven’t yet heard The Battle, then I would suggest you go out and immediately get hold of this release, which you will love if you’re a fan of driving melodic hard rock. You can then get hold of The Battle to see this style of rock performed to absolute perfection. 

I think this release is good enough however to cement Karlsson’s position as the leading songwriter in this particular rock field. I cannot wait to hear the next release with which he is associated. 

Overall this is a really well-written, well-played and enjoyable melodic hard rock album which stands up perfectly well in its own right and only suffers when compared to a genuinely world-class, outstanding release of an almost identical nature.

Let us know your views on 'Planet Alliance'

Track List

The Real You
Remember Me
Ain´t No Pleasin´ You
Calling My Name
A Taste Of Paradise
The Quickening
Divided We Stay
It´s Your Cross To Bear
The Great Unknown
Where To Go
Digging Your Own Grave

Line Up

Mike Andersson – Vocals
Magnus Karlsson – Guitars
Bob Daisley – Bass
Magnus Rosén – Bass
Anders Johansson – Drums
Jaime Salazar – Drums
Mattias  Eklundh – Guitars
Carl-Johan Grimmark - Guitars
Janne Stark - Guitars