MOJOBONE - "Cowboy Mode" (CD)

Holy-one-hell-of-a-fucking-shit! After too long silence Mojobone is back with a vengeance! This brainchild of Opeth/Spiritual Beggars man Per Wiberg has given the world two previous releases, who were killer, but they’ve actually managed to blow these away! This is down and dirty, groovy, riff-heavy seventies influenced hard rock at its best! The title has to be one of the most misleading I’ve heard, though. It would be better off named after the track “Celebrate Armageddon”! I won’t go through every track, but opener “Over The Hills” (not the Gary Moore cover) sets the style and pace right away. Heavy, groovy and with ultra-phat riffing. Besides handling the keyboards, guitars and bass, the multitalented Wiberg also handles the vocals. And, he does it great! “Damaged Gods” continues with some gritty drums, courtesy of Marcus Källström (Stonecake, Sky High) and some wah-wah guitars by Spiritual Beggars colleague Mike Amott. “The Peacemakers” takes off in a cool mid-pace with some clean guitars and an almost poppy verse, with the chorus proving to be one of the coolest, grooviest and most hook-laden grooves in a long time, accompanied by some hand clapping. When was the last time you heard hand clapping on a modern hard rock album? It’s followed by one of the heaviest and doomiest riffs I’ve heard in a long time, “Cowboy Mode”. Simple, but oh so effective! Really cool stripped down verse with a brutally fat and distorted bass supporting the vocals. “The Ones That Got Away” starts with some acoustic guitar, but soon kicks off in a cool up-tempo backbeat tempo. This one has some cool Zeppelin overtones and shows the talent of young blues guitarist Christopher Shoori. “Shadow King” also shows the diversity of Mojobone with its soft, almost proggy, touch. “25 Years” also shows a new side of the band, starting off in an vein close to Black Crowes meets The Soundtrack Of Our Lives (but good…). My preference for album title, “Celebrate Armageddon” is an awesome, heavy and funky track, that builds up in a really cool way. It reminds me a bit of Danish rockers Blindstone, which is a great thing in my book. “End Of Music, End Of Story” starts off with a slow, heavy lonesome, fuzzy guitar riff that sets the pace for this slow, almost doomy rocker. The verse is cool and based on drums, vocals and piano, while the chorus brings in the heavy artillery. The album ends with a cool porch blues version of “Over The Hills” which ends the album in a cool way… and now I did go through all the tracks anyway… Well, go out and get it!
Year: 2010
Labe: Hippodome
Country: Sweden
Link: www.myspace.com/mojobone