Baltimoore - 'Fanatical'
                                                                                                                                            Released through Lion Music on 8/19/2005
THE BAND:
Björn Lodin - vocals
Mankan Sedenberg - guitar
Stefen Bergström - guitar
Weine Johansson - bass
Hempo Hildén - drums


TRACK FRAGMENTS:
1.) "Fanatical" - There is a small vocal accent that opens this track.  The musical intro opens with a rhythm guitar effect along with a drum pattern being played on the tom-toms.  Underneath the rhythm guitar and tom-tom there is a very laid back grooving bass line.  The second half of the intro section the rhythm guitar switches to a lead guitar lick.  Connecting the intro section to the first pre-verse is a small lead guitar scale.  The vocal lines of the pre-verses were very reminiscent to Nazareth.  The musical arrangement underneath the vocal lines of the pre-verse were simply structured letting the lead vocals carry the verse.  Weine wrote and played a very cool bass line for the pre-verse.   Björn changes the structure of the vocal lines for the verse.  This gives the verse a little bit of a different feel than the pre-verse.  The band used the music from the second-half of the intro for the musical chorus.  The band changed the rhythm of the song just a little for the second chorus.  The lead guitar notes of the guitar solo were played in a very smooth yet simple fashion.  There is a small breakdown section that consisted of just bass and drums before going into the outro section of the song.
2.) "My Number 1" -The intro to this track opens with a very Malcolm and Angus Young influenced rhythm guitar.  The vocal lines of the verse have a very Marc Storace lead vocalist of Krokus sound to them.  The guitar tracks for this song consisted of the lead guitar playing one rhythm and the rhythm guitar playing another.  This song was mixed to were the rhythm guitar was coming out of the left speaker and the lead guitar rhythm was coming out of the right.  This mixing effect is one of the reasons the guitar arrangement has such a cool sound.  The bass and drums kick in after the first verse.  The bass line of the song fills in a lot the gaps of the two guitar arrangements.  There is a small rhythm change for the choruses.  The lead and backing vocals of the choruses are laced with very sweet hooks.  There is a small bridge after the first chorus were the band could have placed the guitar solo if they had wanted to.  The guitar solo was close to four bars long with traces of melodic and hard rock influences.
3.) "Outer Me" -The intro to this track had a very heavy metal blues feel to it.  There is one bar of intro music were Weine plays a small drum fill to accent the blues effect.  Over the top of the rhythm guitar arrangement of the musical verse the lead guitar plays little accented lead guitar licks.  The lead guitar rhythm changes for the chorus to a Angus Young influenced rhythm riff.  The guitar solo much like the song itself has a very laid back feel. There is a small rest within the song leading into the outro section. 
4.) "Give Me What You've Got" -This is the first single taken off the disc.  The band is currently shooting a video for the song.  The intro to this track opens with a small drum fill.  The lead and rhythm guitars of the musical intro are playing two different rhythm arrangements.  The two different rhythm guitar riffs have a huge hook with in them.  Laced within the lead guitar rhythm of the intro section where little lead guitar riffs.  The musical arrangement of the pre-verse was set up to where the guitar track were in between the lyric lines.  This gives the song a mean sound.  For the last lyric line of the pre-verse Hempo changes the sound of the pre-verse by opening and closing the hi-hat.  Hempo gets to express how well his hands and feet are by playing the ride cymbal rhythm  with what is called dotted notes.  These notes are played with a bounce.  After the second chorus the band changes the rhythm of the song for the third verse.  This song has a small standard hard rock breakdown section right before the guitar solo.  Though the guitar solo was short it suited the song very well.
5.) "A Set Sight Of Dreams" -This track opens with a seventies rock influence intro section and lead guitar scale.  The lead guitar scale was recorded with a effects pedal.  Underneath the vocal lines of the verse and in between the rhythm guitar arrangement are little lead guitar effects.  The band not only speeds up the rhythm of the song up for the chorus but they also change it just a little.  The lead guitar tracks of the song have a Jimi Hendrix feel and sound to them.  The bass line of this song was huge.  Musically this song was well structured and very well written.  The guitar solo was recorded using a wah-wah pedal.  After the guitar solo there is a small breakdown section.
6.) "Wished & Reality" -The musical intro of this track consisted of a wah-wah minor lead guitar solo.  The musical section underneath the minor guitar solo of the intro section had a heavy metal blues feel.  The band carried the musical arrangement of the intro section over and used it for the verse.  In several different ways I felt the musical verse was very similar to the stuff Michael Schenker done on early MSG albums.  The main rhythm guitar section was done with a slide over the top of that is a simple electric guitar rhythm.  There is a small vocal accent after the first pre-verse that follows along with the lead guitar licks.  The choruses of the song were very simple with nice backing harmonies.  After the first chorus there is a small breakdown section.  The rhythm guitar arrangement of the breakdown section was very influenced by Michael Schenker.  In fact if one did not know better they would swear it was Schenker playing on it.  Leading into the second chorus there was a small minor twin lead guitar solo.  
7.) "Kiss Me" -The rhythm guitar of this intro section had a very heavy feel to it.  Laced in between the rhythm guitar arrangement were little lead guitar licks.  The musical arrangement underneath the vocal lines of the verse where done with both guitarist playing two different rhythms.  This had a very nice effect on the chorus.  There is a small lead guitar lick leading into the musical chorus.  After the second chorus the band changed the dynamics if the song with the rhythm guitar arrangement.  Basically what the guitarist done was switch from a distorted guitar rhythm to a clean electric guitar.  This had a nice effect on the arrangement.  For the third pre-verse the band changes the rhythm structure of the song to a twelve-note rhythm arrangement.  The band attached the lead guitar solo to the outro section of the song.
8.) "You Touched Me And I'm Healing" -The intro of this song consisted of a guitar rhythm and hi-hat.  The guitar rhythm of the intro had a stinking groove to it.  In the way the guys arranged the vocal lines along with the sound of the musical pre-verse reminded me a lot ok Krokus.  The guitar rhythm of the verse had a Angus Young feel.  The bass line on this track does not kick in until the verse.   The musical and vocal arrangement of the chorus had a very cool sound to it.  This song has one of those live song sounds.  The lead guitar solo was not has intense as I expected but non-the-less it was a great solo.  There is a small vocal effect over the top of the outro section.
9.) "Are You Coming Or Not" -This track opens with a drum fill.  The main musical intro of the song has a very laid back blues feel to it.  Mankan & Stefen keep the rhythm and lead guitar arrangements on this track very simple.  Weine & Hempo really locked into a solid groove.  The lead guitar solo runs underneath the last pre-chorus.  All in all this song is what rock and roll is about.
10.) "On The Inside" -This track opens a very simple intro section and lead guitar scale.  The rhythm guitar tracks and drum rhythms of the song were very influenced from the eighties.  The twin guitar rhythm arrangement underneath the verse had a very cool sound.  There is a very strange vocal effect on the vocal lines of the chorus.  In between the vocal lines of the chorus was a very small lead guitar lick.  For the second chorus Björn dropped the vocal effect.  The lead guitar solo had an abstract sound to it.  For the third verse Hempo changed the hi-hat rhythm to an opening & closing pattern. 


    The ten songs on 'Fanatical' consist of every musical influence the band has, everyone from seventies UFO to nineties Krokus.  The production quality of the release is amazing.  It won't take you long after hearing this release to become die-hard Baltimoore fans.  This is a must have for all eighties hard rock fans!!!