Band: Black Paisley

Title: Rambler

Year: 2020

Label: Black Paisley

Already the first riff of opening track ”Damned” makes you sense a smell of diesel. Straight ahead, uncomplicated, hard driving blues based hard rock ‘n roll. If the season had been right for it, this one would crave on open cab and a motorway. A very nice start on Swedish hard rockers Black Paisley’s third effort. The band features former Electric Boys guitarist Franco Santunione. Stefan Blomqvist handles the other guitar and lead vocals, Jam Emanuelsson plays bass and behind the drums we find Robert Kazari. The album was mixed by Deathwitch/Dundertåget/Imperial State Electric/Humbucker man Robert Pehrsson and it the sound is fat and nice. “Without Us” continues in the same vein, but with a slightly more radio friendly and melodic chorus, which also applies to the next track – “Higher Love”. There’s something familiar with the lead vocals, which I at first couldn’t pin point. Then I realized, he actually reminds me of Y&T’s Dave Meniketti in his med and lower register. A great thing in my book! “Save The Best” keeps the pace up and “Timeless Child” shows no traces of slowing down. All in all this is a great, rocking, power rocker with great melodies I can recommend!

Janne Stark

BRIDGE TO MARS – Bridge To Mars (CD)

This one has been long awaited. This Swedish trio, featuring singer/guitarist JJ Marsh (Spellbound, Glenn Hughes), bassist Robert Hansen (Beardfish) and drummer Thomas Broman (Great King Rat, Electric Boys etc), just oozes of quality looking at these guys’ resumes. It was early on clear that this was going to be an earthy, retro rocking combo, which is just up my alley. Opener Days That Never Came mixes some cool riffing with melodic swirling parts in the landscape between the sixties and seventies, but landing on the right side of the fence for me. Mirror Magic Spirits opens with some hysteric guitar tones and continues into sounding like a vocal version of the Stockholm combo Plankton, which is really good in my book. Vintage Strat sounds without too much distortion, but heavy enough to rock and intense drumming with a busy bass filling the voids and JJ’s cool vocals. This is good stuff! SuperFi Yourself starts out with a super gritty evil sounding fuzz guitar and continues into a cool heavy, yet melodic retro rocker. Love it! In A White Light starts out pretty mellow but gets in the swing in the verse and lands somewhere in a bluesy Mahogany Rush:ish landscape. Soulshine brings back the evil and dirty guitars and gets the Hendrix mojo going in the beginning, but with a heavier stonking verse. A killer tune, indeed! Love the crushing, dirty guitar and rhythm work in this one, with JJ’s cool vocals hovering over it all. Amaze My Mind is also close to Plankton territory with its smooth, swirling melodic, almost folky feel. Jupiter’s Dream is another gritty rocker with ultra cool ever changing rhythm parts. It soon became my favourite on the album. Outstanding! Rivers Of Dissolution is also a cool track, where JJ is most likely using an ElectroHarmonix B9 or C9 organ Machine for his guitar. Have one myself and it’s a really cool sounding pedal that turns your guitar into a distorted Hammond organ. The album finishes with the blues ballad All This Time. All in all a killer debut for this power trio, a band I’d really like to see live, where I think the songs will really come alive. Highly recommended!

Janne Stark

Year: 2015

Country: Sweden

Label: Pride And Joy

Video: https://youtu.be/OnNTXS2BpRE

ELECTRIC BOYS - And Them Boys Done Swang (CD)

(The album has been previously reviewed for Supernova, but has now been issued by Escape, so here it goes again).

To be honest I’m not really sure what my expectations were for this reunion album from the Swedish funk ‘o metal combo, but they sure as hell were exceede! The boys sure prove they mean business already in rock-out-smash-in-your-face rocker opener Reeferlord. Man, this band ROCKS!! Halfway through the song the add some of the old heavy riff funk vibe to the mix as well. The good old funky vibe continues in second track “My Heart’s Not For Sale”. Man, this is really really good! The great heavy and fat production helps elevate it even further. Of course the Beatlesquey vibe previously heard in songs like “Mary In The Mystery World” makes an entrance here as well. This one has an equally dope induced title “Father Popcorn’s Magic Oysters”. Sure they were oysters? Not mushrooms? The track sure has some hit potential without being wimpy. Another one is “Ten Thousand Times Goodbye”, which is more of a ballad type song with a strong Beatles vibe. It’s however when they rock out my feet get going. One prime example is the Zeppelin meets Aerosmith with a strong funky vibe rocker “The House Is Rockin”. Showcasing drummer Sigevall’s Bonham style drumming. The band is tight and well-oiled, and they do swing! Another outstanding funky rocker with a simple, heavy and crushing riff is “Welcome To The High Times”, a track that you just can’t sit still to! Killer!! “Sometimes U Gotta Go Look For The Car” would be a perfect soundtrack, but here it feels a bit more like a filler. Nice riff, but the car doesn’t really take you anywhere. I just LOVE the cool intro/verse guitar riff in “The Days The Gypsies Came To Town”. The song has a really cool late 60s/early 70s bluesy vibe with some cool bass playing from Crystell. Cool vibe, indeed! “Rollin’ Down The Road” is another prime example of the E Boys delivering strong, fat and effective riffs, adding a great melodic chorus. Sometimes bands put the weakest songs in the end. What about this one? Nope, the boys don’t disappoint. The album ends at really high note with up-tempo rocker “A Mother Of A Love Story”, which has a truly Kiss-inspired half-tempo chorus. One fine rocker indeed! All in all this is a really killer album, proving that the boys don’t get older, some just lose their curls or at least cut them a bit shorter. The power’s not in the hair, that’s for sure! Them boys done swang, yes indeed!

Janne Stark

Label: Escape

Year: 2011

Country: Sweden

Web: www.electricboys.com

ELECTRIC BOYS - And Them Boys Done Swang (CD)

To be honest I’m not really sure what my expectations were for this reunion album from the Swedish funk ‘o metal combo, but they sure as hell were exceede! The boys sure prove they mean business already in rock-out-smash-in-your-face rocker opener Reeferlord. Man, this band ROCKS!! Halfway through the song the add some of the old heavy riff funk vibe to the mix as well. The good old funky vibe continues in second track “My Heart’s Not For Sale”. Man, this is really really good! The great heavy and fat production helps elevate it even further. Of course the Beatlesquey vibe previously heard in songs like “Mary In The Mystery World” makes an entrance here as well. This one has an equally dope induced title “Father Popcorn’s Magic Oysters”. Sure they were oysters? Not mushrooms? The track sure has some hit potential without being wimpy. Another one is “Ten Thousand Times Goodbye”, which is more of a ballad type song with a strong Beatles vibe. It’s however when they rock out my feet get going. One prime example is the Zeppelin meets Aerosmith with a strong funky vibe rocker “The House Is Rockin”. Showcasing drummer Sigevall’s Bonham style drumming. The band is tight and well-oiled, and they do swing! Another outstanding funky rocker with a simple, heavy and crushing riff is “Welcome To The High Times”, a track that you just can’t sit still to! Killer!! “Sometimes U Gotta Go Look For The Car” would be a perfect soundtrack, but here it feels a bit more like a filler. Nice riff, but the car doesn’t really take you anywhere. I just LOVE the cool intro/verse guitar riff in “The Days The Gypsies Came To Town”. The song has a really cool late 60s/early 70s bluesy vibe with some cool bass playing from Crystell. Cool vibe, indeed! “Rollin’ Down The Road” is another prime example of the E Boys delivering strong, fat and effective riffs, adding a great melodic chorus. Sometimes bands put the weakest songs in the end. What about this one? Nope, the boys don’t disappoint. The album ends at really high note with up-tempo rocker “A Mother Of A Love Story”, which has a truly Kiss-inspired half-tempo chorus. One fine rocker indeed! All in all this is a really killer album, proving that the boys don’t get older, some just lose their curls or at least cut them a bit shorter. The power’s not in the hair, that’s for sure! Them boys done swang, yes indeed!

Janne Stark

Label: Supernova

Year: 2011

Country: Sweden

Web: www.electricboys.com