Do you yearn for the eighties? Do you wish the world and its music had never changed since the decade of miners’ strikes, shoulder pads, and synths? Well, the Nestor are the band for you, and they have just released their second album Teenage Rebel on Napalm Records. Formed in 1989 but going on hiatus and not releasing their debut Kids in a Ghost Town until 2021, Teenage Rebel mashes together Glam Metal, AOR, and everything eighties Rock had to offer into one cheesy-as-hell time capsule.
Oh and before you ask, of course, they are from Sweden.
The end result is akin to The Night Flight Orchestra, or Steel Panther without the incessant nob gags. After the largely spoken word intro “The Law of Jante”, “We Come Alive” ticks all the eras boxes with its swirling synths, cliched lyrics, big chorus, and melodramatic guitars – there is even a glammy, smoke machine worthy, solo. Did I mention the lyrics? Oh, they are as gloriously stuck in time as the hard-rocking title track shows – a Bon Jovi-esque tale of being sixteen and restless.
“We got caught in the web of broken dreams, but nothing is what it seems” Tobias Gustavsson earnestly sings on “Caroline”, an earworm which plays out like a mix between Foreigner and Journey. Single “Victorious” is another slice of upbeat rock, with hackneyed lyrics and an empathic, and undeniably catchy, chorus. Their pastiche even extends to the obligatory power ballad, with the commercial sheen and Def Leppard-style bombast of “Last to Know”.
They perfectly recreate the over-the-top rock of the time, even its many sins. Whilst the songs are catchy Nestor have a habit of laying it on a bit too thick, and their loving homage becomes sickly sweet by the end. Case in point being the “everything and kitchen sink” power ballad “The One That Got Away,” with saccharine keyboard melodies and some attention-grabbing key changes.
Teenage Rebel is a love letter to eighties rock – full of all the synths, big riffs, cheesy melodies, and flashy guitar solos you expect. It is as if the last thirty-five years did not happen.
Buy the album here:
https://www.napalmrecordsamerica.com/nestor
6 / 10
THOMAS THROWER