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

BEARDFISH - Mammoth (CD+DVD)

This band is definitely as weird as the name inclines. And, it’s not a bad thing at all. I’ve actually had something of a time-out when it comes to prog as I got tired of staring at my own navel (or at least listening to bands who were). I’ve however discovered some new bands that have made me get into prog mode again. Beardfish is one band that really intrigues me. They have quite an unconventional sound, with a singer that is not just an excuse for having someone wail over some disrhythmic complex musical patterns. Rikard Sjöblom is a damn good singer for starters. The music draws from lots of different areas, but the foundation is firmly based in the aura of the seventies. There’s some touches of Anekdoten meets The Flowerkings, or Gentle Giant meets King Crimson for that matter, in songs like the instrumental And The Stone Said – If I Could Speak, while there are some more heavy rock overtones in opener The Platform. The boys really mix it up which shows in third track Tightrope which sounds more like a re-visited late 60s pop-tune with touches of Camel and some jazzy passages. Green Waves showcases some pretty cool heavy and intense riffing with more of a heavy rock attitude, while next track Oustide/Inside is a short almost classical piano piece. Akakabotu enters a more jazz-fusion oriented landscape and reminds me a bit of Swedish progsters Fläsket Brinner meets Samla Mammas Manna, mixing distorted Hammond organ and saxophone. Album closer Without Saying Anything on the other hand starts off sounding quite a lot like vintage Kansas mixed with more current band Magellan, but when the vocals come in I instantly come to think of Swedish seventies band Blåkulla. This is truly an interesting musical journey I will most likely embark many more times. The bonus-DVD contains the traditional “The making of…” as well as seven tracks recorded live in De Boerderij in Holland of outstanding quality both sound and picture. I’d go for the deluxe edition, it’s worth it!
Janne Stark
Label: InsideOut
Year: 2011