Magnus Rosén Band – Its Time To Rock The World Again

Magnus Rosén Band
Its Time To Rock The World Again
Label: X-World
Out: April 21^st, 2023
Playing time: 48:34

Magnus Rosén (ex. Hammerfall) is back with his new project M.R.B. and the album “Its Time To Rock The World Again”.

From 1997 to 2007 he was the bass player for Hammerfall and recorded five albums during this time. But he is and was still in many other bands and projects (e.g. Shadowside, Jorn, Revolution Renaissance). And as if that wasn’t enough, he has now also founded his own band (or is it a project?). On “Its Time To Rock The World Again” you can hear a mixture of new compositions and various covers. And he could inspire a lot of great guest musicians for the production of the album (Tony Martin (ex. Black Sabbath), Janne Schaffer (ex. Abba) or Jonas Hansson (Silver Mountain)). Reason enough to take a listen to the album.

“The World And Times” sounds nothing like his former band. Funky guitars and brass dominate. “Glitter And Blood” tends more towards Metal / Hard Rock, reminiscent of the former Scorpions. On the other hand, “Something” is a Beatles cover and strongly reminds of the four moptops. With “Circus” it becomes extremely poppy. With “Hearts On Fire” there is another cover, this time by his former band Hammerfall. The instrumental “Terminator” is again funk-oriented. Here, the master himself provides the somewhat unusual tones with his bass. “Paperplane” is a ballad in singer/songwriter style. “Street Fighting Man” was written by the Rolling Stones. In contrast to the previous covers, it sounds a little less like the original. But it doesn’t have to be. “Sign Of The Time” is not a cover of the Harry Stiles tearjerker but an Alternative Rock song.  Of course, a cover of his Swedish compatriots Abba should not be missing. Magnus Rosén chose “The Winner Takes It All” for the album. Apart from the lack of female vocals, he orientates himself on the original. You can find a lot of songs on the internet under the name “Dressed To Kill” (Kiss, Nazareth, Cher, Lita Ford, …). But although the sound seems somehow familiar, this looks to be an original composition. And for me one of the highlights of the album. Finally, there is also a mixture of Soul, R&B and Blues, with the Bill Withers cover “Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone”.

On “Its Time To Rock The World Again” you hear a broad mix of styles. Magnus Rosén relies on diversity both in his own songs. The cover versions also come from many areas of Rock and Pop music. Everyone has to decide for themselves whether this is good or bad. Although there is no bad song, I somehow miss the musical main theme here.

Lineup:

Magnus Rosén – Bass
Mikael Erlandsson – Keyboard
Zenny Gram – Voice
Fabio Buitvidas – Drums
Raphael Mattos – Guitar

Guests

Janne Schaffer – Guitar
Tony Martin – Vocals
George Keczan – Piano, Keyboard
Chitral Somapala – Vocals
Jonas Hansson – Guitar
Stefan Blomquist – Keyboard, Piano
Elsa Li Jones – Vocals
Eric Galdyanz – Vocals
Ivan Martin’s – Vocals
Jörgen Alnevall – Vocals

Track list:

• The World And Times
• Glitter And Blood
• Something
• Circus
• Heart On Fire
• Terminator
• Paperplane
• Street Fighting Man
• Sign Of The Time
• The Winner Takes It All
• Dressed To Kill
• Aint No Sunshine When Shes Gone