Forgotten Gems-Titan-Steps

This album came out a little over two years ago. I reviewed it back then and I had forgotten it about for a while until I was moving some CDs around. This disc fell out in front of me as I was moving stuff. I noticed the cover and thought "oh, yeah Titan, I liked that album". So it was set in pile of stuff I needed to give another listen to. Not to be confused with the stoner/prog act Titan, this Titan hailed from Sweden and played 1980's style AOR. I say hailed because even though this just came out in late 2009 I have not been able to find proof that the band has recorded anything since then or that they still exist as an act. Even if they are no longer around they did leave this self-produced EP. These guys looked pretty young, say 25 or younger. However somewhere along the line they must have developed a love for 1980's AOR because they have that sound down to every last detail. Think Treat, Bronze, early Europe and other acts of this style around say 84-87. Everything about this album is done right because the production is slick, the vocals are totally on, the guitars are tight, the rhythm section is on track and even the keyboards manage to add depth without overpowering the other instruments. So we get six songs with one being a short instrumental. The highlights here are probably "When evening falls" and "One more night" which both sound like they would have been radio gold had they come out in 1986. Yet being dated doesn't diminish the fact these guys did an excellent job in creating some instantly likable songs. AOR can be pure bubblegum to some extent, but if correctly constructed as Titan did it can be very enjoyable. Because this was self-produced I think it went largely unnoticed which is a shame. So track it down and give it a listen, if you like AOR you won't be disappointed.