In which Malmo hopefuls Grand Slam – not, of course, to be confused with the recently re-energized former Phil Lynott vehicle – unveil their plans for world domination via the gift of sunny, lightweight Euro-AOR…

Led by guitarist-singer Andy Sinner (no relation), Grand Slam struggle throughout the course of A New Dawn to establish any identity beyond that of an identikit group of Eurovison-friendly likely lads bound for third division glory on the Scandinavian club circuit. They have their moments of course – the album’s central triumvirate of Get High, Take Me Higher and Waiting for Tomorrow are all rather appealing in their own ways; It’s just that everything, from the rather toothless production down, seems geared to robbing the band of anything even vaguely resembling a personality. This is a shame, because Sinner and compadres Andreas Gullstrand (guitars), Andy Swaniz (drums), bassist Henrik Hansson and ivory tinkler Daniel Grönberg Svensson all clearly know their way around their respective weapons of choice. Fellow Swedes Reach covered this ground last year on their Reach Out to Rock opus with far more panache and, importantly, a balls-out performance that really made you sit up and take notice of what was going on, and it’s this sort of X-factor that A New Dawn sadly lacks.

At the end of the day, everything on this album is pleasant enough, and if you’re a sucker for glossy Euro-AOR then there’s probably just about enough excitement on offer here to warrant a purchase. But if you’re not, you’re missing nothing by avoiding Grand Slam this time around.

A New Dawn is out now on AOR Heaven.