BAND – THE WHEEL
ALBUM – 2ND & 10
RELEASED – 6/20/18
BAND PAGE – OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE FOR THE WHEEL
BAND MEMBERS –
Vocals: Jan Erik Salvesen
Guitars/Vocals: Ørjan Kvalvik
Bass: Rune Gandrud
Drums: Bjørn Olav Lauvdal “BOL”
Keyboards/Vocals: John Kristian Alterskjær
REVIEWED BY – JOHN ERIGO

THE WHEEL are a band that hail from Oslo, Norway. Now this is another band that is in the category of why I wanted to start KickAss Forever! I am sure not too many of you reading this have heard about this band before, but I want to share their melodic hard rock sounds with you all. It drives me crazy that some shit bands get tons of popularity and airplay yet a totally ass kicking band like this isn’t more popular than they should be! 2nd & 10 is THE WHEEL’s second album and it is rocking!!!

I discovered THE WHEEL like most of us find new, obscure bands these days, online. Well it has been a long wait for album number 2 but well worth the wait! These guys have an excellent sense of melody, and combine it with a really rocking sound. Their just heavy enough NOT to be some AOR type of boring band, and it’s not over heavy or over produced. The combination of solid guitar sound, excellent vocals and like I said before, a real knack for melodies, makes THE WHEEL a band any hard rock fan should check out and enjoy.

Some standout tracks on this album are LAST DAY, MY MACHINE, THIS LOW, ON THROUGH THE NIGHT, and SISTER. Really, the whole album is solid, no filler here! There’s plenty of really nice guitar work by ORJAN KVALVIK( I like the VAN HALEN-ish riff to ROCKSTEADY too)and combined with the voice of JAN ERIK SALVESEN – THE WHEEL have a real winning formula. Add in the work of RUNE GANDRUD(BASS), BJORN OLAV LAUVDAL aka “BOL” (DRUMS) and JOHN KRISTIAN Alterskjær(KEYS/VOCALS) to round out this excellent band.

OK, so this band isn’t a household name yet but you really need to give these guys a listen, especially if you are a fan of Melodic Hard Rock, you won’t be disappointed! Now, while I am writing this the album has not been released yet and the above promo video is the only video so far for this album, so to get an idea of their sound, here’s a link to their first album on SPOTIFY. The new album 2nd & 10 is in the same vein but in my opinion the songwriting has improved. See why I got hooked on this band right here —   THE WHEEL – FIRST ALBUM ON SPOTIFY