The Night Flight Orchestra - Sometimes The World Ain't Enough [Japanese Edition] (2018)

If you are unfamiliar with the NFO sound, these Swedes cherish a decade in musical history between about 1975 and 1985. It is impossible to avoid that they are intentionally derivative, proudly brandishing their classic rock influences such that half of the fun is identifying which band inspired particular parts. For my year-end summary of Amber Galactic, I noted Toto, Van Halen, Billy Joel, Steely Dan, Journey and Whitesnake. These same bands are still in the melting pot but SWAE is definitely less heavy and guitar-driven than previously. The guitars, while good, are moved another row further back in the bus, while the keyboards move forwards yet again. It is disingenuous to call it ‘disco’ as I’ve seen it described in our internal channels, but I also appreciate that NFO stray ever-further from their metal-oriented day jobs2. To demonstrate this point, two additional bands can be thrown into the pot: ABBA and the Bee Gees, both of whom can be heard on the more disco-heavy tracks, such as “Paralyzed,” “Pretty Thing Closing In” and “Winged and Serpentine.”