BALTIMOORE – Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope is the first Baltimoore album to be released on BLP Music, the label of Baltimoore main man Bjorn Lodin, who was miffed at the treatment the band had received from their previous label.

Baltimoore is a Hard Rock band that has been around for quite a while, having released eight albums since 1987, with 2004’s Fanatical being the most recent of the bunch. The twelve track Kaleidoscope looks to extend the Swedish band’s popularity even further.

If you’re not familiar with Baltimoore, they play a fast-paced, energetic style of Hard Rock, with lots of catchy guitar riffs, enjoyable solos, bouncy, upbeat lyrics, and hard-hitting drums. Baltimoore is an unpretentious “good times” sort of band in the vein of stalwarts like AC/DC, but minus the sleaze. Lodin’s vocals might remind you a bit of Bon Scott, though.

Of the dozen tracks on Kaleidoscope, most of them are up-tempo and hard-hitting, like opener “To The Bone,” which gets things off to a strong start. The first four tracks are all melodic fast-movers, which don’t stop to take a breath. Fifth track, “Wellaway,” sounds like one of those “ominous” tracks AC/DC used to record from time to time, and gives listeners a chance to rest a little before track six, “Take Me To The Power,” which sounds like AC/DC in full-out “party” mode; it’s fast and very fun.

The momentum keeps up with “Plug & Play Me,” which has a very nice chorus and a strong solo. The title’s a bit silly, but this is an enjoyable song. “How Sick Is OK?” takes the foot off the gas a little, but the riffing and vocals are very solid.

Kaleidoscope doesn’t have a dull song on it. Your CD player’s “skip” button won’t get used very much (or at all) while this disc is playing. The last three tracks aren’t quite as good as the nine that precede them, but they’re still solid enough; even the ballad-ish “Miracle” is worthy, and “Timepiece” has a nice Bluesy groove to it. “In The Name Of Love” closes things out respectably.

Musically, Kaleidoscope is well-played, and Lodin’s production job is quite solid. The only problem with the overall package is the album’s cover art, which looks kind of murky and might make some people think that this album is darker than it really is. Either that, or Lodin is a Quake fan.

Kaleidoscope is the first of three albums that Baltimoore plans on releasing between now and April 2007, with the next due some time in October 2006. Hopefully they’ll be as good as this one!