Hard Driver - Freedom Machine (CD)

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Stavros must be the busiest man in Greece! Not only does he rock out with Super Vintage and Freerock Saints, now he has also released an instrumental CD with Universal Hippies and, at the same time, let loose another beast. Those of you familiar with Jake E Lee's band Badlands will surely make the connection here (for you uninformed Hard Driver is a song on the first Badlands album). Hard Driver sure do have some Badlands overtones. Bluesy hard rock with a southern touch. This is indeed a pretty solid album. The songs range between good and kick-ass and the band sounds great. The Achilles Heel, for my personal taste, is the vocals. Stavros is a good singer, but there is still something lacking for me to fully embrace his vocal performance. I'm not 100 % sure exactly what it is, but it's most likely a combination of his vocal range, his sound and his overall performing lacking a bit of oomph, for lack of a better word. However, what he lacks in vocals, he makes up for in his excellent guitar work. The songs are solid and the band plays great! Well worth checking out!
Janne Stark

Label: Grooveyard
Year: 2017
Country: Greece

Motorgun – Motorgun (CD)

Those of you who thought Brazil was only Angra or Sepultura, forget that. Yes, I know there are plenty other bands coming from Brazil, but this is by far the best retro style riff rock band I’ve ever heard from there! The band features guitarist/singer Bebeto Daroz, bassist Edinho and drummer Leo Mello. Fans of bands like King Karma, Badlands, Pride And Glory and Black Water Rising should definitely check this unit out. The album kicks off with the close to 7 minutes epic ”Heading For Tomorrow” where the band instantly kicks into heavy riff mode and Bebto proves he’s not only an outstanding guitarist, but also a class A singer! ”Rebel Souls” continues in a Pride And Glory southern drop-D style heavy crunch vein. This is catchy, groove oriented and heavy as fuck! Bebeto perfectly balances between bluesy licks and technical runs, without it becoming show-off. ”Back To Ashes” bursts in like a raging steamroller, but with a cool melodic chorus that gives the song a new layer, while ”Deliverance” has a cool slightly psychedelic touch to it. I won’t get into each song. Basically because all of the songs are frickin’ awesome! Not a single filler! Not a weak moment! Together with the new Crobot, top of the class of 2016!

Janne Stark

Label: Grooveyard

Country: Brazil

Year: 2016

Dust – Soulburst (CD)

Not to be confused with the 70s namesakes, who released two albums. These Swedish retro rockers should however appeal to the fans of the aforementioned. Dust’s first effort really struck like me a sledgehammer! Outstanding 70s sounding riff oriented hard rock with a touch of the mighty Badlands. The debut was a self-financed affair, while they have now been picked up by the appropriately named Attitude Records. This is also, I was told by one of the members, why they decided to re-record two songs from the debut. This means that for us “old” fans this release features seven new tracks to suck on. The album kicks off with “Sun Rising” which instantly shows the band hasn’t changed their winning concept from the debut. Next up is “The King Is Coming” which really shows the band’s Badlands influences with the mighty Roger Solander sounding like Ray Gillen’s long lost cousin. Johan Niskanen is a bluesy riff machine with a lot of tasty leads under his belt, often skipping the rhythm guitar during the solos and leaving it up to the tightly knit power rhythm package of bass player Bernt Ek and drummer Örjan “Dr Rock” Englin to fill every crack and crevice. It’s however not all power riffs and heavy rhythms. “Waiting For You” is a cool blues oriented ballads, with a hint of vintage Whitesnake (when Dave still had a voice and they were a blues rock unit). “Free” is based on almost the same, more or less sacred and forbidden but still often used, riff pattern of Hendrix “Freedom”. A tad too close, but still a great song. “Soul Stealer” is another cool riff rocker in line with the rest of the album. The album closes with a cool Univibe drenched guitar floating on top of the groovy rhythm package and Solander soaring above it all with his bluesy melodic top notch vocals. All in all a solid follow-up to a killer debut! If you’re into bands like Badlands, King Karma etc., don’t miss these guys out!

Janne Stark

Year: 2016

Label: Attitude Records

Country: Sweden