(Melodic Rock) Roulette - Better Late Than Never - 2008, MP3 (tracks), 192 kbps

Another day, another excavation of a long-lost Scandinavian AOR “classic.” ROULETTE is the latest band to be revived from Sweden’s AOR graveyard, and since they’re now defunct, “Better Late Than Never” is actually a collection of all of ROULETTE’s old 80s material. The band only released two singles before they went kaput (both of which are featured on here), but a healthy smattering of unreleased demos ensures that the song list is pumped up to a healthy seventeen tracks. But even then, is it worth it?

Musically, ROULETTE compares to a more low-key version of DA VINCI. Imagine what DA VINCI would sound like if Joe Lynn Turner (ex-RAINBOW) was on vocals. If you don’t know who these guys are, then just picture Sammy Hagar-era VAN HALEN, and you’d get a pretty good idea of ROULETTE’s sound. The only problem is that it’s boring as all hell.

This is probably the most generic AOR I’ve listened to in a long time. There’s nothing remotely interesting in ROULETTE’s slow-paced ballads and half-hearted JOURNEY-like “anthems.” You’ve heard every lick, every harmony a million times since 1985, and the slow pace of the music effectively kills any “pep” that would alleviate the sense of the mundane. At first, seventy minutes of music seems like a bargain, but once you start listening to it, it becomes something more akin to torture.