RENEGADES – 84-16 (MCD 5tr)

Some bands really take their time to record. When it comes to Renegades, these songs were written back in 1985 and recorded in 2016. 29 years! Must be a record. To be honest, listening to the music, I barely notice the difference. Another proof it all moves in circles. Timesless music, indeed! Sure, lyrics like Meet Us Backstage oozes of juvenile innocence (or Steel Panther influences). The song itself sounds quite Mötley Crüe influenced. It actually sounds really good! Singer/guitarist Valentin Pecovnik was previously in the band Joke and has also been part of the internet project band Hellvalla Burn. Queen Of Pain is another nice slice of glammy 80s style melodic metal that should attract fans of bands like Poison, Crüe and Steel Panther. The band features, besides Valentin, lead guitarist Mikael Ahlqvist, bassist Per Runfors and drummer Richard Svensson. Really good, crispy, still tight production, too! Good stuff, indeed!

Janne Stark

Country: Sweden

Year: 2016

-->

Label: private

ETERNAL FEAR – Killing Time (CD)

Swedish metallurgists Eternal Fear presents their fifth release, this time mixed by Blaze Bailey guitarist Steve Ray, and I do think this is the band’s best product when it comes to the production. The band mixes influences from classic heavy metal with touches of both Manowar, Metallica, Maiden and even some Falconer. It’s heavy and crushing, but Ove Johnsson’s vocals are neither your traditional high pitch power metal style, nor the Metallica style grunting. He’s somewhere in-between, melodic enough to attract the power metal fans and rough enough to attract the metal fans. Musically it’s sort of the same thing. Heavy enough, yet melodic enough. Songs like Black Country even verges on thrash but the vocals keep it on the metal side of the border. Killing Time takes it to Trouble territory, almost a bit doomy, while Halls Of Odin screams folk metal, a bit like Falconer meets Sabaton but with good vocals. A good piece of Swedish steel that should attract fans of… well… metal!

Janne Stark

Year: 2017

Country: Sweden

Label: private

EDDY MALM BAND – Northern Lights (CD)

I heard the Eddy Malm Band demo several years ago and liked it so much I wanted to include a demo track on the compilation for my latest encyclopedia. According to the liner notes on the CD this track was what made No Remorse pick up the band, which makes me happy and proud! So, yes, I am happy the album is finally out! It’s funny, I was expecting Heavy Load, but what I hear is more of Eddy’s band prior to Heavy Load – Highbrow, and that makes me even more happy. To be honest, I was a bigger fan of Highbrow than of Heavy Load. It’s not really raw, raunchy and brutal, but quite clean and melodic, and I really like that! I’ve also always been a fan of guitarist Per Hesselrud’s guitar playing, even though it has mostly been displayed in his quirky bands Bosse and IFK Doom (a hilarious band where they do Sabbath songs in Swedish). The rhythm section featuring drummer Mike Kerslow and bass player Tomas Malmfors is tight as a rat’s ass. I Had Enough is a straight ahead classic rocker, closer to AC/DC than Heavy Load, while Turn It Down sounds like it was written for Highbrow. Nasty Woman slides in closer to the classic NWoBHM era. Heavy Load fans will most likely recognize track #6 – a new rendition of Dark Nights from the Heavy Load Metal Conquest MLP. It always tough to record a new version of an old and well-known track, but I like the heavier punch to the new version (and, did I mention I like Per’s guitar playing?). The boogie-oriented Get Out Of Here again takes us back to the NWoBHM era and bands like Saxon, Maiden, Chevy and Dedringer. Danger is a cool stomper where Eddy shows he hasn’t lost his vocal power from the 80s. Next is yet another re-make, this time the A-side of the first Highbrow single from 1978, A Loser. A really great version, actually, except for the weird clicking sound (echo??) in the chorus, which I don’t really get. The album finished with the heavy rocking title track. A really good album indeed!

Janne Stark

Label: No Remorse

Year: 2016

Country: Sweden