Charizma
Untitled release
Reviewed by Doug Van Pelt
Charizma is one of the best unsigned bands in the world. They were my pick for the Underground Metal album. For your info, Regency really liked it and offered a contract, which Charizma turned down. Too bad. They signed up with a management team in LA which works with Holy Soldier, so maybe we'll see Charizma on a label soon. "Guardian Angel" starts this tape where Charizma's last demo left off. They're playing a solid commercial metal with a good keyboard and guitar sound. Bosse Nikolausson is singing lead vocals now. His vocals are good enough to make you wonder why they were searching for a vocalist last year. "Lost in the Night" is a standout cut, which shows the mega-potential of Charizma. It starts off with a classy finger-picking intro and then tears into some blazing hot chords. "One Life to Live" also begins with a soft picking intro, layered over some classy keyboard sounds. It comes off with a clean, professional Def-Leppard feel to it. This song was on their demo last Spring, re-worked to much finer results. A big difference in this version than last year's is the great lead break featured in the first bridge. The keyboards of Mats Tarnfors really add a good accent to the Charizma sound. This demo wasn't packaged like it was for sale, but I imagine they will sell copies if they receive hundreds of letters requesting it. Write 'em c/o Daniel Nordstrom, Pl. 6511 Ersmark, 902 66, UMEA, Sweden.