A group of Swedish rockers, who humbly call themselves All for the King, is not only a powerhouse of melody and the best qualities of rock from every era, but these guys stand committed lyrically to the King of Kings.

Formed in 2016 by Ricard Hulteke (vocals) and seasoned guitarist Erik Tilling, they released their debut self-titled album in 2017 to much praise. However, after a few line-up shuffles in the rhythm section, they’ve delivered an even more satisfying and diverse follow-up replete with what I might be almost hesitant to call praise rock.

But while that moniker may conjure images of “church-y” soft, and often repetitive, worship music, make no mistake, their output is rife with heavy rock grooves, edgy guitar tones and plenty of musical creativity, in addition to the wonderful melodies and uplifting, spiritually direct words.

Musically, the production and mix is modern-loud but lush, uncompressed, and almost analog-ish. They have combined some of the best tones from the ‘70’s and ‘80’s along with the dirtier tones from the ‘90’s. There is a slight “buzz” in the mix which adds personality and more importantly a sense of familiarity to the music (even though these guys are a newer band) for the “older breed” of rockers. The net effect being that these songs are immediately appealing, and yet also keep getting better with repeated listens.

There is this retro-rock modulation could be attributed to Tilling’s formative guitar-playing years and his influences from those eras along with the raw, yet clean vocal style of Hulteke who simultaneously channels Glenn Hughes (of Deep Purple fame) and Swedish contemporaries Henrik Bath (of Harmony) and Christian Liljegren (of Narnia). Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.