If Bad Habit do not ring a bell, let’s just say that this is one of the oldest European Hard Rock bands, with releases going back at least twenty years. The Sweds where never that popular in Greece but they won their laurels in Scandinavia and the Old Albion when they were at their prime during the early nineties. With their cut-through melodies as a trademark and with base rhythms going over to the AOR/Westcoast idiom, Bad Habit seem to hold tight and their performance in last year’s Firefest proves that.

Since most people are not that acquainted with Bad Habit, “Timeless” is a good first approach, since this is not a new album but a quite comprehensive collection of their career. Fourteen tracks complete the retrospective in Bad Habit’s career, a total of around one hour and some minuted to keep you company with songs that won’t turn the heads for hardcore rockers but will excite fans of FM, Treat, Alien, Aldo Nova and maybe TOTO.

There is a distinct Swedish feeling as expected, but the US AOR influences are more than evident. The guitars are stronger than expected but Bax Fehling’s voice and the mellow keyboards balance the lot and filter all te ingredients the regular AORheads value. Their amazing debut “After Hours” (1989) is represented by four songs here, while “Revolution” (1995) and “Above and Beyond” (2009) albums have three songs each. It is to be said that this collection does not follow the exact release tradition but with beautiful compositions like “Play The Game”, “Rowena”, “Winner Takes It All”, “Another Night” and “A Lot To Learn”, it is more than certain that Bad Habit will hit a nerve.

In waiting for their new album, expected somewhere in the early 2011, Bad Habit kick off with two new songs “Turning Water Into Wine” and “Rock This Town”. If their new CD follows these tracks, we should highly anticipate their new work. I don’t think there is any more room for words. “Timeless” promises the best for the fans of good Scandinavian AOR and this is quite enough.