In 1989 brothers Christan and Simeon Liljegren formed a band called Borderline, together with three other members. Two years later this band split up due to different musical opinions. Christian and Simeon wanted to go back to a more seventies oriented hard rock style. Thus they formed Modest Attraction in 1991. Not long after they were joined by Stefan Selvander (guitars, also ex-Borderline) and Mick Nordström (drums, Bengalen, Leviticus (1990 touring member)). Stefan left the band the following year, to continue with his studies. So in February 1992 Stefan Mohlin joined the band on guitar. Soon Modest Attraction began to write songs and record demos. They got signed to Viva Records, and in March of 1994 they released their first album, called 'The Truth In Your Face'. The album received very good reviews all around the world. The band went back into the studio late 1994, and recorded a Christmas E.P, named 'Modest Christmas'. The E.P included four songs; "Modest Christmas" (a newly written song for the season), "Christmas Time" (a cover of the classic Larry Norman song), and live versions of "Feed Your Fire" and "Give You My Song" (a brand new track). The band played several live shows this year, and received attention for their seventies inspired stage show. In 1995 Modest Attraction began to write songs and record demos for their next CD. 'Divine Luxury' was released in March 1996, this time independently. Then Stefan decided to leave, and was replaced by the talented guitarist Carl-Johan Grimmark (Sentinel). In May 1996 the new line-up went to Germany for a spring tour, where they did some festival appearance together with Deliverance and their Swedish friends Charizma. In 1997 Christian and Carl-Johan started working on what was supposed to be a a side project called Narnia. The new band was soon picked up by Pony Canyon in Asia and Nuclear Blast in the rest of the world.  The success of Narnia pretty much left Modest Attraction on ice. In 2001 two of the bands songs appeared on another Christian Liljegren band-project, Wisdom Call's self titled album.

THE TRUTH IN YOUR FACE (1994) VIVA RECORDS

Modest Attraction play 70's inspired hard rock. Musically they're inspired by Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, The Sweet and Slade, but without really sounding too much alike any of them. Modest Attraction have found their own sound, and 'Truth In Your Face' is their debut album, released via Viva Records in 1994.

The band had already released at least 2 demos prior to this full length, but as I have never seen or heard them I do not know if the songs on 'The Truth In Your Face' are all new, or if they re-recorded any of the demo-songs. But with 14 songs crammed onto this CD, I do think this is pretty much all the song they'd written so far.

After a short news reel collage and keyboard intro the first song, "Firefall", kicks in. This song is heavily reminiscent of Deep Purple, and even the name of the songs brings thought to their classic "Fireball" album. This hard rocking song is great, and it sets a standard that the album, quite frankly, never manages to live up to. On the good side I think Christian is in his right element here. His has a unique voice that is easily recognizable. And whereas his voice lacks some power when it comes to Narnia's metal sound, in Modest Attraction he is spot on. I bet he could take over the vocal spot in The Sweet any day, and none had been the wiser. 'The Truth In Your Face' shows a lot of variation. Most of the songs are keyboard laced hard rock. But then you also have a song like "Your Love Is True, part I", which is a funky jazz-ballad. The overall sound is '70's retro, but the production is of modern standards. There are several good songs here. However I find 'The Truth In Your Face' to bee a little too long. Fewer songs would make for a stronger album. The good outlasts the bad though, and my main impression is of a band that set out to deliver music that few others did at the time.

If you are familiar with any of the members of Modest Attraction, and perhaps especially Christian, you know where they stand lyrically. They are proud of their Faith, and proclaim it unashamedly. Some might call it cheesy, but why should a band not be able to write about what is important to them? I tend to favor the uplifting lyrics from a band that truly loves what they do, and what they sing about. In Modest Attraction the lyrics comes across in a worship-like manner that I enjoy.

'The Truth In Your Face' is now out of print, and is getting harder and harder to get a hold of. I believe the band released a compilation CD with most of the songs on some years ago. But that compilation is perhaps even harder to obtain. The band Wisdom Call (another project with Christian Liljegren as the singer) included the song "Time" on their 1 off album  in 2001. Strangely enough they didn't re-record it as a cover, but included the same recording that appears here!

Killer tracks: Firefall, Down On My Knees, Tonight, The Burning Flame, I Can't Live Without Your Love, Time

DIVINE LUXURY (1996) INDIE/NAXOS

In 1996 Modest Attraction released their second album, called 'Divine Luxury'. This was an independent released, distributed via Naxos, a Scandinavian distributor that usually releases classical music.

More flower power metal! Yes, Modest Attraction haven't changed at all, as even the line-up stays intact. If anything, they have gone for an even more '70's sound on this CD. They keyboards are more prominent, and the songs are more progressive in nature. Even the production sounds closer to the sounds of the '70's. Again, it's impossible not to mention Deep Purple as an influence, just listen to "Cheap Talk" or "Everyone's A Star". And this time they've added a cover of another influential band for them, namely The Sweet's "Burn The Flame".

I have to admit that Modest Attraction's brand of hard rock is not my favorite genre. So again I find a CD with 15 songs to be a little too much to digest in one go. Very few bands write enough great songs to keep it solid close to 50 minutes on a CD. And when you are so in loss if ideas, you repeat much of "Everyone's A Star" in another song named "Star", then I really don't see the point in including it all. Still, I enjoy most of what I hear on 'Divine Luxury'. It's just not my favorite album.

"15 Years" also appears on Wisdom Call's debut album!

The album ends with one of those annoying hidden tracks that starts after several minutes of silence. The 4 minutes or so are just a feedback like keyboard note, ending in various weird electronic noises. Talk about pointless!

Killer tracks: Everyone's A Star, Troubled Child, 15 Years

Related artists:

Narnia, Wisdom Call, Divinefire, Audiovision, XT, Flagship