While musical genres have come and gone over the past four decades (and with increasing rapidity), there’s good reason while hard rock and heavy metal has been ever present; quite simply, it is because it’s the mutt’s nuts. Hailing from Sweden, NESTOR are a quintet who harness the essence of ‘80s rock to deliver a sound that captures the very best of that decade and deliver it with an energy that places them very much in the present. Teenage Rebel is the band’s sophomore album and is sure to send them on a collision course with the world’s biggest stages.
Before you write NESTOR off as some kind of retro act, it’s pertinent to note that the band were originally formed in 1989, so they’re perfectly qualified to play music from metal’s golden era. After going on hiatus for several decades, the band awoke from their slumber in 2021 with their debut album Kids In A Ghost Town, and since then it has very much been full steam ahead. Teenage Rebel continues the good work of its predecessor and opening track ‘We Come Alive’ (along with introduction ‘The Law Of Jante’) finds the band firmly in the groove. The best ‘80s rock and metal always had an uplifting, life-affirming quality and that’s precisely the aesthetic into which NESTOR tap. It’s the musical equivalent to a vitamin shot or a caffeine buzz and that’s exactly what ‘We Come Alive’ serves up.
If you grew up anywhere near the ‘80s, or you have a passing interest in that decade, then you’ll find a spiritual home within these grooves. Yet, the quality of the song writing is strong enough to attract new fans. While the ‘80s is a strong point of reference for Teenage Rebel (right down to the power ballad ‘Last To Know’) this album has a timeless quality that sounds as if it could have been released at any point in the last forty years, which goes to show that good music will never go out of style. If you’re in the mood to break out the air guitar, then there’s no better opportunity than ‘21’, a foot-on-the-monitor, horns-held-high celebration of hard rock which is packed full of soaring vocals and pounding drums and is sure to set aflame venues wherever it’s played.
If Teenage Rebel is a kind of hedonistic party on a Saturday night, then final track ‘Daughter’ is the come down on a Sunday morning. Yet, in the album’s arc it makes perfect sense and brings a real sense of closure, but have no fear, you’ll soon be hitting ‘play’ again and again (and again).
- Teenage Rebel is released via Napalm Records on 31st May 2024.
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Track List:
1. The Law Of Jante (featuring Freya Miller)
2. We Come Alive
3. Teenage Rebel
4. Last To Know
5. Victorious
6. Caroline
7. The One That Got Away
8. Addicted To Your Love
9. 21
10. Unchain My Heart
11. Daughter
