I heard about this country rock band from some friends and even though I’m a big fan of southern rock, the word country doesn’t sit well with me. When I finally checked the band out, I was totally blown away! Man, this was no washed up Waylon Jennings copies, these boys rock!! I recently discovered the band Texas Hippie Coalition, and I immediately compared The Killbilly 5’Ers to THC. However, where I found the latter fell a bit short on the consistency of the songs, KB5 don’t. The album kicks off with the rocking stomper Burn Down The Trailer Park and continues with the up-tempo rocker Up Shit Creek. The band’s strengths are many, from the killer dual lead work from benders Wincent Persson (ex-Violent Work Of Art) and Ola Af Trampe (Grand Illusion, Code) to the vocal strength of Ola “Alo” Karlsson. The rhythm section featuring bass player Daniel Tegnvallius and drummer B-O Kjellsson keeps the wagon swinging and swaying. The mix is heavy, yet dynamic. The guitars are heavy and detuned, but they also leave some space for acoustic additions such as in steamroller rockers Tupelo. Another bass-crushing rocker is entitled All Fed Up, and the vocals here reminds me a bit of early Volbeat with its stompy rhythm. A cool heavy rocker, indeed! Speaking of cool rockers, another driving “can’t sit still when hearing this”, is I Don’t Know What It Is (But I Want It), which I suspect will go down great live. Humor is another nice ingredient in the band’s songs, not only with titles like A Dick And A Douche, but listen to the stonkin’ No Bull and it’s guitar licks. Awesome! The album ends on another high note – Good Thing I’m Bad. I honestly can’t find a weak song on the album. The band manages to be consistent, yet keep it fresh and new twists and turns on the same heavy, down and dirty country-sih heavy riff rock. If you’re into bands like Texas Hippie Coalition, Hogjaw or Preacher Stone, lend these Swedish southern rockers your ears!
Janne Stark
Country: Sweden
Year: 2012
Label: private
Not sure about the name, but it may be a pun on Tony Iommi (whom we sometimes used to call Tommi Lommi). Anyway, brace yourselves for this new Swedish power trio featuring drummer Jörgen Tjusling and bassist Dennis Österdal who have played (and play) with bands like Eaglestrike and Human Race. A tight rhythm section indeed. This time they are fronted by singer/guitarist Jens Florén and form a trio who is more in the vein of Black Label Society in degree of heaviness, but with some elements reminding me a bit of early Alice In Chains in songs like Suffer. It’s all very raw, untamed and crude, but in a good way. I’m not always 100 % into the vocals, but for the most part Jens does the job really well. At times I’m a bit torn between feeling it’s a bit too crude, like in Honesty and Leaver, but I still digging it. It’s a bit like when I heard Motörhead for the first time, like watching a horror movie through your fingers, if you know what I mean. And Motörhead did grow into a long term musical friend of mine. Powerless Consciousness reminds me a bit like playing a Pantera single on 33, it sort of reminds of Walk, but slower and heavier. Back From the Dead is a really cool rocker, starting out almost reminding me a bit of Ghost, which only goes for the intro. A great chunky rocker indeed. It’s a weird album in the sense that it’s no favorite of mine, but I still keep coming back to it. I think we have a love/hate relationship. A good one, that is.
Janne Stark
Year: 2012
Country: Sweden
Label: private release
Finnish guitarist Granfelt has previously played in bands like Gringos Locos and more well-known English rockers Wishbone Ash. His solo albums have always been quite solid. Melodic Relief is in my opinion one of his most straight ahead easy-listenable efforts. It kicks off El Gringos Revenge which reminds a bit of Joe Satriani on Surfing With The Alien. The track just flows along displaying Ben’s great groovy playing, here exploiting his more melodic rock side of things. This is a track that would fit perfectly to a movie high-speed car chase. Oh Yeah! Continues the melodic journey, and solidifies the album title. GTR Tech brings on some cool retro sounds, but also guitar harmonies reminding me more of Wishbone Ash. The title of the album really makes sense as the songs are all very melodic, easy to grasp and easy to like as well. I’d call it mainstream, and that’s without being condescending, I say it as a compliment. These are songs that could easily be played on the radio or TV. The track where he really lets lose is the album closer, Because We Still Can, where Ben really lets his seventies freak flag fly with some cool Octavia soloing. It may not be the most musically challenging instrumental album, but this is a really enjoyable melodic guitar journey, I must say.
Janne Stark
Year: 2012
Country: Finland
Label: Sprucefield Oy
Spiders play rock & roll, and they do it well. Ever since their first 10” MLP they have proved they know how to take the influences from the late sixties/early seventies and turn them into good times modern retro hard rock. Hang Man reminded me a bit of vintage Motörhead in the intro riffing, while Love Me draws more on early Who type energetic rock. Singer Ann-Sofi Hoyles helps give the band their own sound, but also makes me think of Amercan garagy rockers Suffrajet, which ain’t no bad thing in my book. I also find some resemblances with Graveyard, especially on the new Lights Out album. Spiders write good catchy tunes as well. Flash Point also has been given a nice crunchy, yet dynamic mix, making this a nice package. It may not be a hundred percent up my alley, as I’m more into the heavy riffing stuff, but Spiders do what they do very well, and it’s an album I will be popping into the player every now and then. Good songs, great drive and a great tight band!
Janne Stark
Year: 2012
Country: Sweden
Label: Crusher Records
Clark Lane is a Swedish band I’ve kept my eyes on for some time. Their previous demo showed tremendous potential, and I was actually quite surprised to see yet another demo instead of a debut album. These guys really deserve to get their album out. It’s not easy to describe the band’s sound as, even though there are influences from various places, they do have their own sound. Opener Smalltown Misery is a great melodic rocker with nice biting guitar work that reminds me a bit of TNT, while the songs fits in somewhere between Dizzy Mizz Lizzy and 3 Doors Down. Alive continues with a cool vibe that makes me think of Canadians Tonic in their heavier moments, still very contemporary and melodic. This band is definitely radio material. Great vocals, great musicians, killer songs with great arrangements and top notch production. What I really like is the quirkiness that pops out now and then in the riffing, melodies and arrangements. Expectations made me think of Hoobastank in the initial riffing, but this is actually a bit heavier, and this band takes quite different ways melodically, plus there’s a great guitar solo. This is really, really good stuff! Kharma and especially Wreckingball are even heavier with a touch of King’s X in the riffing, but with a totally different vocal vibe. Both are outstanding songs! All five tracks are actually killer and this band deserves all exposure they can get! This is new and fresh with a nod to the (semi-) old school.
Janne Stark
Country: Sweden
Year: 2012
Label: none (CD-R demo)
Germán started his career fronting progressive metal band Afterglow, which later became Mind’s Eye. I remember praising his vocals on the band’s first MCD. However, as fate had it, Germán’s career took another turn and he disappeared from the scene for many years. He then returned and became the front man of neol-classic metal band Narnia, when Christian Liljegren decided to take a time out. After one, really good I must say, album entitled Curse Of A Nation, the story ended and the band was put to rest. Germán now joined the man he replaced, Christian Liljegren, in the bands DivineFire and Golden Resurrection. Now, finally, he has released his first solo album. This is a bit like Germán picking the best pieces from his former bands, the melodic yet heavy side of Narnia adding a bit of proggy quirkiness from Afterglow, all of it topped with his class A vocals! A New Beginning is a great piece of semi-proggy melodic metal, quite close in style to Swedish colleagues Cloudscape, but still with its own sound and touch. However, fans of the aforementioned should definitely check this out! Besides Germán’s excellent vocals, the guitars are handles by the swift handed Martin Hall, the bass by Raphael Dafras and the keyboards are handled by Guilherme Oliviera. Unfortunately the drums are programmed, which gives it a generic sound and stiffness I don’t really like. My only complaint I should add. There are some guests that should be noted, such as CJ Grimmark’s excellent solo on Face Of The Blind, which Thomas Plec Johansson handles the guitars and great soloing on two tracks, where his neo-classsical sounding lead on Open Your Eyes is a killer. Call For The One has a different, quite energetic touch in the verse, while the bridge and chorus takes it to a heavy edge. Nice blend, indeed. The song material is really solid and consistent and the album is a safe buy for fans of bands like Cloudscape, FullForce or classic Symphony X for that matter. The album, like Narnia, Golden Resurrection and DivineFire carries a pretty devout Christian message. The overall album, minus the very different operatic Canción Con Todos, is maybe a lacking a bit of variation, but it’s still a good affair. The programmed drums can be a bit annoying (to a seventies fan like myself), but aside of this – great work!
Janne Stark
Year: 2012
Country: Sweden
Label: Nightmare Records
Stormhold is another new band following in the trails of the classic Swedish wave of eighties heavy metal and bands like Steelwing, Enforcer etc., but with the addition of a folksy touch, a bit similar to bands like The Storyteller and Falconer. This shows quite clearly already in the intro The Legacy. Legion Of The Brave rocks it up in the vein of the aforementioned bands. The band sounds good, even though I can’t say they bring anything new to the table. If you don’t, you better do what you do damned great. To be honest, the band does a really good job, but to me I feel this has been done so many times, and slightly better in many cases. The songs are good, the musicians do their job very well, too. The vocals are usually the weak link. I’ve heard much worse, and they are by no means bad, it’s just that, if you want to stick out and rise above the rest in this genre, you better tick all the boxes, and I’m afraid the vocals is one box that’s not ticked for me. Especially in Godric Hammerfist I feel the song lacks a bit from inadequate vocal power and clarity. Westybay starts off sounding quite Iron Maiden influenced and musically it does kick ass. Still, it does fail to really impress me. Again, I’m afraid it’s the vocals that doesn’t hit the mark for me. The production is quite ok, very analogue and retro, which fits the genre, but they could probably push it up a few notches, especially the drum sound. Quite promising despite the flaws if you’re a fan of classic retro metal.
Janne Stark
Country: Sweden
Year: 2012
Label: none (CD-R demo)
