BLACK SWAN – “Paralyzed” (Album Review)

It is funny to think of Black Swan as a new project when in reality, their debut was in early 2020, just before the world came off the rails. Now here we are, exactly six years later, and the number of Black Swan albums becomes three. Maybe the years are just moving faster as our odometers pick up more miles. Regardless, the original supergroup remains intact since the beginning, and they have something new for us in the form of their new LP, Paralyzed.

For those who may not know, Black Swan is a hard rock and classic metal band fusing old-school vibes of Dokken, Whitesnake, and Winger because, well, that’s the background of the members. Reb Beach, Robin McAuley, Matt Starr, and Jeff Pilson are all veterans of the golden age of later hair metal and rock, just before it went a bit underground for a few years. It is strange that just a few years ago (OK, twenty years ago) we were bemoaning the state of terrestrial radio and MTV, and how there was no place for good rock bands to get their music out anymore. Well, now MTV is just TV, and terrestrial FM radio has ceased to be relevant.

Record labels get almost 80% of their revenue from streaming services, and bands rely heavily upon touring, merch sales, and direct physical media channels. In this strange new paradigm, it seems traditional music broadcasting has taken a loss, but who wins? The bands? The fans? It remains to be seen, but it may present an opportunity for old-school rockers to publish music without traditional radio functioning as a gatekeeper. Who knows? Today’s young generation is getting into retro games and physical media; maybe there is still a new emerging market for traditional melodic rock. As there should be, if there is any heart and soul to be found in humanity today.

With that philosophical detour out of the way, let’s talk about this new record. With 11 tracks and the original lineup intact, as well as the same signature sound, it’s time to dig into the songs to see how this album stacks up not only against the body of Black Swan work but also against the contemporary hard rock scene. Well, the album certainly starts strong with “When the Cold Wind Blows.”

Whereas the previous album, Generation Mind, opened with a moody atmospheric swirl of instrumental emotion, this record just dumps the clutch and goes right for the heavy. Thundering Starr drums, Pilson holding down the low end, and Reb holding onto some long lead notes shrieking through his EMG bridge pickup. Without warning, the rhythm section slams to a halt, and Reb executes a melodic lead sequence a few times before cutting into a steady rhythm riff section you might expect from one of the last 3 or 4 Winger records. Robin launches into verse structure, with a voice holding together far too well for a gent in his seventies. In fact, not just keeping it together, but actually pushing it, on a great opening track that would be right at home on a Primal Fear album, and in terms of not only structure but vocals, that is absolutely a compliment. At the end of the track, Reb busts out a real flamethrower of a solo, complete with tapping and Floyd Rose flutters, but not only full of tricks, but melodically satisfying and right in the groove of the song.

The band takes an unexpected exit ramp into Hollywood on “Death of Me,” a song that could be sent into the dark reaches of space with a note politely informing sentient life forms that this is a textbook example of 80s hair metal writing. In a good way, without the excessive cheese we started to see before the glam implosion of 1990. Think Autograph, Firehouse. It’s hard to describe the song with words, but it’s solid with a very hooky chorus and nice melodic structure. The third track, “Different Kind of Woman,” fuses early Whitesnake blues-rock writing with the raw nature of Winger’s debut “Sahara” record. While the song format is inherently limiting, the band does what they can to make it interesting, with creative changeups, a nice verse-chorus feel, a solid solo, and guitar embellishments sprinkled throughout for flavor.

“If I was King” has some of the most ominous aura of any track on the album. It literally just opens with Reb and Jeff chugging quarter notes in D until Matt’s drums move the song into a more traditional minor key melodic metal groove. The track sizzles with mean energy, like something off of the new Extreme album. Not to say this track, or the others, are unreasonably derivative, but writing is a medium where comparison is a powerful tool, where sharing earbuds is not an option. That being said, the track also digs deeply into Reb and Jeff’s Dokken roots to good effect. Nothing new is being invented here, but it’s solid work, with good vocals and a capable solo.

If any track on this record could be called derivative of any style in particular, it would be “Shakedown” which has Sunset Strip energy complete with an Aquanet perm. Well, Reb will be the first to tell you, his name is “Beach,” not “Lynch,” so might as well lean into that glam energy occasionally. There isn’t a lot of detail about this song, aside from being good, and right at home with Ratt and Twisted Sister.

Aside from sounding like a Gus G. and Yngwie collaboration, “Fire and the Flame” is ground zero for wicked riffing, with Reb‘s fingerprints all over it. With a smidge of “Tooth and Nail” energy, to good effect. McAuley’s vocals are especially solid on this one, carrying it in all parts other than when Reb is tap-dancing all over his fingerboard, or at least the fun section above the 12^th fret where three fingers from his left hand and one or two fingers of his right hand get together for one hell of a party.

Shifting into a darker mood, we have “I’m Ready,” a darker ballad. You’ll still find varying degrees of distortion on Reb’s amp here, but the tempo is more like the 60 to 70 bpm range, making for a slower, more meaningfully deliberate approach. It’s really some of Robin’s more soulful delivery on the album. Reb’s lead part at the end of the track is much less about shred and much more about a well-thought-out melodic sequence of notes with delicate vibrato. Robin’s vocals come in one last time with Matt slamming the toms with pronounced fury to bring things home.

Surprisingly, the title track, “Paralyzed,” while adequate, is not a standout track on this record. The riffing is capable and creative, including some alternating open note picking. The solo is great, with Reb’s tricks and techniques on full display, right down to whacking the Floyd Rose trem for effect. It’s just unfortunate that neither the verse structure nor the chorus provide a memorable melody for hooking the listener. Again, not a bad track, just not hit material.

Now “Carry On?” That’s another story. The opening riff alone makes it worth checking out. Aside from the blistering rhythm guitar playing, the song just has a bit more mojo and some improved melodic sensibilities around the chorus parts. And if you thought Reb brought the magic in the previous solos, wait until you hear this one. Just a fun track in general. Very reminiscent of the high-energy uptempo stuff on newer Winger records.

“Battered and Bruised” is appropriate nomenclature for the next one, which comes strutting down the street with wah pedal and big attitude. That being said, the chorus has a positive sort of energy, creating a contrast with the gnarly nastiness of the rest of the track. Reb doesn’t even take his foot off the wah for the busy guitar solo near the end of the track. We’re going to go out on a limb and guess the final track, “What the Future Holds,” is at least partially a Pilson creation, based on the funky chorused bass part opening the track and leading into the primary Reb riff. The verses don’t do anything remarkable, but the vocal section that bridges into the chorus is really nice. Whatever that key or chord is, do more of that. It almost takes you to a happy place, like “Better Days Comin’.” The solo is even followed by a fun section where Reb and Pilson take some turns cranking on whammy bars and picking some bass arpeggios. Coming out of that part, Reb picks out some chords one note at a time with some sort of super-wet flange phase chorus kind of setup that just sets a very cool vibe. It’s a nice way to exit the album, in an ending credits way like “Hole-Hearted.”

The Black Swan project was obviously determined to take things to some new level here, but it’s debatable whether that happened, at least as a whole. While some bands with musicians of this generation seem to just be producing music for the sake of packaging a product and sending it to market, these boys do seem to be doing it out of love, right there in Jeff Pilson’s personal studio, one song at a time, with caring and attention, and that is worth something. Alluding to the previous questions about the industry at large, whether that love translates to return on investment is another matter, but it’s clear the band is trying to do something good. Even if it’s for their own love of music, great. If anything, it would be nice if there were more of that attitude in the industry.

It’s our opinion that Black Swan raised the bar a few times on this album, but the problem is that their debut album was just so damned good. What a problem to have, right? Shake the World was like a 9 across the board, where the subsequent albums have songs that are a scattering of 7s, 8s, and 9s. If, for some hypothetical reason, you, as a consumer and a lover of music, can only listen to one Black Swan album, you should just pick up the first album. But if you like Black Swan already, or even just the back catalogs of any of the members, you should listen to all three. You will be glad you did. This one drops February 27th, so be sure to give it a spin if you can.

Release Date: February 27th, 2026
Record Label: Frontiers Music SRL
Genre: Melodic Hard Rock

Musicians:

• Robin McAuley / Vocals
• Reb Beach / Guitars, backing vocals
• Jeff Pilson / Bass, backing vocals
• Matt Starr / Drums

Paralyzed Tracklist:

1. When The Cold Wind Blows
2. The Death Of Me
3. Different Kinda Woman
4. If I Was King
5. Shakedown
6. Fire And The Flame
7. I’m Ready
8. Paralyzed
9. Carry On
10. Battered And Bruised
11. What The Future Holds

Order the album here.