After opening up with three polite exercises in solid – some might say stolid – AOR, Sweden’s Roulette finally hit paydirt for the first time on new album Go! with track four, the muscular Strangers. After that they maintain a high cruising speed, in the process unfurling some of the classiest melodic Scandinavian rock I’ve heard in a while…

Actually you could say some of the classiest Scandinavian rock since they themselves released an album back in 2019; when they hit their straps there are few outfits currently doing the rounds who can match the swagger of What Are We Looking For, a song so good it would fit snugly on Survivor‘s Premonition album with it’s mix of commanding vocals and superb lead playing. The thunderous Take Me As I Am is even better, with Hansi Fellbrink‘s throbbing bass setting up an assault that brings to mind grandiose old names like Strangeways. This isn’t just random AOR god name dropping, either – at their best, Roulette really can go toe to toe with the greats, believe me.

Thomas Lundgren doesn’t overdo things behind the mic, oozing class and control and the same could be said of guitarist Magnus Nelin, who isn’t flashy but makes every note count over the course of a series of mightily impressive solos. Drummer Mats Nelin is rock solid at the back and the result of this excellence is an album that’s supremely well crafted without ever sounding contrived or calculating.

On Go! this Swedish quartet prove over and again that the timeless qualities inherent in great classic rock transcend decades; She Can’t Hide, the penultimate track here, could quite literally have been recorded at any time in the last forty years, and yet still it prompts the listener to get up and dance as if it’s something new, exciting and never-before-seen. To be able to create something like that, to stoke those fires in an audience, is a wonderful gift to possess, and we should be thankful that Roulette get to share that gift on this splendid record.

Go! releases on July 25th.