Taste: Moral Decay (2018)

There are many things I find unacceptable when it comes to music, and one of those is for a band not to think that someone may have used the band name prior to them thinking of it. As far as I, and many others, are concerned, there will only ever be one Taste – namely the band formed by William Rory Gallagher. And this isn’t it. This band comprises brothers Christoffer and Felix Borg, who wanted to make classic 80’s AOR, greatly inspired by FM, Giant and Strangeways. They signed a deal with AOR Heaven, releasing their self-titled debut in January 2013, and have just come back with their second.

Now, some of the songs here are really good, packed full of hooks with great vocals. But, and the case of this album it is a massive “but”, this is incredibly one dimensional. There is no depth to the music, and the amount of sugar that has been packed into it makes my teeth ache. If ever there was an album that should be used as the gold standard of “plastic music” then this is it. Apparently, it was recorded and mixed by Christoffer Borg (Anthrax, Amaranthe, Danko Jones) and mastered by Jacob Hansen (Volbeat, Amaranthe, Epica), who have plenty of experience in what makes a great sounding album, so I don’t know what happened here. Possibly if there was a proper band involved, instead of two guys doing everything, then there could have been more of a discussion as to the outcome was supposed to be. But for me, this is the type of album which gives AOR a bad name.

Rating: 3/10

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