The Night Flight Orchestra: Internal Affairs (2012) / Skyline Whispers (2015)

Following on from the success of their two albums with Nuclear Blast, the label has now released the other two albums, which were originally put out through Italian label Coroner Records. The origins of the band can be traced back to an American tour in 2007, when Björn Strid (Soilwork) and David Andersson (Soilwork, Mean Streak) had discussions as to what classic rock actually meant. They decided to form a band to pursue that, and roped in bass player Sharlee D’Angelo (Arch Enemy, Spiritual Beggars), keyboard player Richard Larsson (Von Benzo) and drummer Jonas Källsbäck (Mean Streak). Of course, a real issue was that there were some very active bands involved, which meant that the debut album ‘Internal Affairs’ didn’t see the light of day until 2012 and their debut gig was a year later.

With an avowed aim to revisit the Seventies, it is strange to hear these (normally) very heavy musicians doing something that is much more melodic and packed full of hooks. There is still an innate heaviness underpinning what they are doing, and their guitar solos are often more ferocious than what would expect from the melodic rock genre, but one wouldn’t ever expect a member of Arch Enemy or Soilwork to be performing this type of music. 2015 saw the second album finally make its appearance, with the same line-up as before although they also added Sebastian Forslund (Kadawatha) on congas, percussion and guitar. It is hard to realise that there was a gap between the albums as the songs are pretty interchangeable and it seems almost as if they were recorded at the same time.

Melodic classic rock, with hints of Bad Company, these guys are determined to be taken seriously and really are trying to bring some semblance of respectability to the genre. Their third album gained them a Swedish Grammy nomination, while their fourth also gained plenty of kudos, and it is incredible that they have managed to get this far while still keeping the main bands going. For any fans of the genre, who want their melodic rock to have more bottom end that may be expected, combined with great baritone vocals (no high pitched shrieks here, well not many) and superb hooks.

Rating: 8/10 – for both