Erik Grönwall, the eponymous full-length album debut of the Swedish Idol 2009 winner, includes a dozen songs that the 21-year-old rocker performed on the television show. The most notable inclusion is the chart-topping smash hit "Higher." An original song written by Pär Westerlund and Joakim Olovsson especially for Swedish Idol 2009, "Higher" was performed by both
Grönwall and second-place runner-up
Calle Kristiansson on the season finale. Sung by
Grönwall with poise and passion, it's a catchy, well-produced power ballad that gets the album off to a promising start. The remainder of
Erik Grönwall is comprised of cover songs originally performed by the singer on Idol. There are a few straight-ahead hard rockers -- "Run to the Hills" (
Iron Maiden), "The Show Must Go On" (
Queen), "Shout It Out Loud" (
Kiss) -- that are a lot of fun, though not especially inventive. More creative, from a production standpoint in particular, are contemporary pop covers like "My Life Would Suck Without You" (
Kelly Clarkson) and "Bodies" (
Robbie Williams). However,
Grönwall is at his best on the power ballads interspersed throughout the album, most notably "Over You" (
Daughtry), "Heaven" (Bryan Adams), and "18 and Life" (
Skid Row). While
Grönwall is rarely dazzling as a vocalist on his eponymous debut, he comes across as eager and unafraid to champion unconventional material, hard rock in particular. ~ Jason Birchmeier