HOUSE OF SHAKIRA - HoS (CD)

House Of Shakira may not be the most productive band in the world, but when they do grace us with an album they do do make a nice impact. On this album we find new, excellent, singer Andreas Novak. Andreas has previously been found in prog metal band Mind’s Eye and he has made a couple of much slicker, but still great, solo releases. Now he’s fronting AOR institution House Of Shakira, and I must say it’s a bit of a match made in heaven. His slightly raspy voice really gives the band that extra edge. The line-up also presents two more new faces, bassist Basse Blyberg and drummer Martin Larsson. This however hasn’t changed anything, I’d say, except that they have actually added a bit more edge to their sound. I would place House Of Shakira in the AOR category, but quite honestly they are more melodic hard rock. No fluffy keyboards and no over-sweeted sleaziness. They have always had a stroke of early Journey in their music, and they still do. We’re talking Journey in their edgy moments here. What about this album then? Well, it did actually take me a couple of listens to really get into the album, which for me is a good thing, since it tends to last longer then. I can only say – House Of Shakira has done it again. This is a really great melodic rocker and I really love the new spark of energy I see in the band. Old fans of the band will still recognize the great hooks, the big choruses and the general vibe, and if they can stomach a git rawer guitars, a less polished sound, you’ll love this one. For me, that’s right up my alley. After having given this album four-five spins, it has now actually become my favourite House Of Shakira release. Yepp, there you go! The House is back in da house!

Janne Stark
Label: Lion Music
Year: 2012Country.Sweden
Link: http://www.houseofshakira.com/

DAYS OF JUPITER - Secrets Brought To Life (CD)

Days Of Jupiter is a new Swedish unit featuring singer Janne Hilli, guitarists Jörgen Hellström and Jocke Grundström, bassist Janne Karlsson and drummer Magnus Larsson. The members have previously played in bands like Trace Of Lords and Destynation. What immediately comes to mind in opening track Bleed is Disturbed. Not only the musical delivery, but foremost singer Hilli who sounds like David Draiman’s long lost vocal cousin. The band was produced by Patrik Frisk, who has helped bands like Corroded and Takida find their sound. I’d say Days Of Jupiter fit in well together with these bands, a bit heavier than Takida, but not as heavy as Corroded. I also still stick by Disturbed as a strong musical comparison. Bury Me Alive also had a hint of Evanescence in the chorus. This one of the album’s potential hits. Silence is another. This is a good solid nu-oriented metal release from a promising band. Maybe a bit too late, I don’t know, but they deserved to be checked out.
Janne Stark
Country: Sweden
Year: 2012
Label: Pantherfarm

SYRON VANES - Bringer Of Evil + Revenge (CDs)

Syron Vanes was one of the early Swedish heavy metal bands that received way too little attention (even though the booklet claims the debut sold over 100 000 copies). Back in the day they released two albums on Ebony Records. Now they have finally been re-issued on CD, nicely packaged and with bonus material. However, the best part is that it has been very nicely re-mastered. The Ebody releases often lacked from quite below par pressings with lots of hiss, pops and noises. Now guitarist Anders Hahne has managed to (from a vinyl original) restore and enhance the recordings to a quality which is way better than the vinyl originals, but without changing the sound (i.e. NOT bringing the levels up to the max and compressing the sound beyond recognition). It was a while since I listened to the original vinyls, but I was actually very positively surprised when putting on the band’s first effort, Bringer Of Evil. This is (and was) really really good stuff! Classic NWoBHM influenced heavy metal with great vocals, killer guitar playing and song material that still feels accurate. This release features the bonus tracks Violation (taken from the Skånsk Rock compilation 1981) and Steal And Run from the 1983 demo. A really strong debut album indeed! On Revenge the band had taken a slightly more commercial path. Not that it’s cheesy or anything, just a bit less classic metal and more melodic hard rock. I do feel the song material however was a bit stronger on the debut and I lack the energy on that release. There are however a couple of great tracks, like One Hell Of A Show and high-speed rocker Fire We Got. This release features the bonus tracks Lying Again and Taking Over from a 1987 rehearsal recording. The quality is however more demo than rehearsal, I’d say. It’s about time these releases saw the light of day. I should also point out the album the band has released since their reunion are killer and should not be overlooked!

Janne Stark
Year: Recorded 1984 + 1986, reissued 2012
Country: Sweden
Label: Steelheart Records
Link: http://www.syronvanes.com/

MATS SANNETORP - Wrong Side Of Town (CD)

This is blues rock guitarist Sannetorp’s third album. Mats is a really good blues rocker with songs in the vein of Bo Wilson, Gary Moore (the blues era), at times with a southern touch. Sannatorp is a Les Paul guy, so no Hendrix comparisons here. The music is quite classic blues rock with dark and quite depressive lyrics, half in English, half in Swedish. If his guitar playing is quite flawless, the vocals are unfortunately not. The voice is decent, but the English pronunciation makes me cringe, I’m afraid. Even though most blues players have a hard time letting anybody else interpret their lyrics, Mats would really benefit in doing so. It’s actually way better when he sings in Swedish, even though it’s all quite straight ahead with no real bluesy feeling in the vocals. As I said, the guitar playing is way more interesting, with a nice fiery tone, like in the excellent instrumental Ain’t Gonna Cry. The Darkest Hour is a really nice heavy rocker, which is only let down by the vocals. This could be really good with only some adjustments. The band is tight and good, the guitar playing kicks ass and the songs are not bad at all.
Janne Stark
Year: 2012
Country: Sweden
Label: private
Link: http://www.sannetorp.com/

ABSORBING THE PAIN - H3ads Up (CD)

Damn, someone put a big phat sledgehammer in my mailbox. It said “Absorbing The Pain – H3ads Up” on it. This is the third album from this Swedish power pack. In my review of the previousl album, Songs Of Hate With Love”, I compared the band to Black Label Society with singer Jonas a bit reminiscent of Band Of Spice singer Christian “Spice” Sjöstrand. I still stand by that statement. The band has simply written another bunch of ball-breaking tracks in the same tradition, but without repeating themselves. Despite the concrete heavy riffing there are melodies, and with melodies I don’t mean any cheesy pop-lines, but classic hard rock melodies. The track Dimetime reminded me a bit of the best tracks of the last B-Thong album (where Mustasch’s Gyllenhammar had taken over the vocals), but with a chorus that owes more to Pantera in their prime. There are riffs here that gives me goosbumps, like the phat seven string treatment in Bully and Basement. The latter has a really cool verse, with a quite unexpected floating style. Hollow adds some acoustic guitars to the platter. The song is quite cool, but I’m not really one hundred percent into the vocals on this one. Jonas’ vocals are otherwise one of the strong points on the album. Peo also gets to show some good solid guitar shreddding, here as well. No use going through all the songs, simply because they all rock, each one in its own way. Sure, it’s heavy as hell, but it’s still quite diverse. A killer album, again!
Janne Stark
Label: Samsound/Rambo
Country: Sweden
Year: 2012
 

DARK NEW DAY - New Tradition (CD)

I really loved the first Dark New Day, released in 2005 and was awaiting the follow-up for years, until I heard it had been shelved. Too bad, I thought. Well, now it’s finally here! The album was recorded back in 2006-2007, but it feels very new and fresh despite this. It’s actually bit more direct than the debut, hard hitters like Come Alive, I Don’t Need You and the power-pack Straightjacket. Heavy, riff-oriented and angry, yet melodic. Ok, I can hear you screaming “it’s not true metal” from the wings. Well, it may not be, but if you, like me, are into bands like Sevendust, Shinedown, and Seether, this is right up your alley! Guitarist Clint Lowery is also in the aforementioned Sevendust, which is quite evident in songs like Take It From Me and Caught In The Light. I should also mention that if you are already a Dark New Day collector, all the tracks have already been released on the digital albums Hail Mary and B-Sides, as well as the Black Porch Sessions EP. Then consider this an awesome compilation!
Janne Stark
Label: Goomba Music
Country: USA