Janne Stark’s Top 15 of 2023

So here’s my Top 15 of 2023 (with some extra honorary mentions). If you miss some stuff it may actually be because I actually haven’t heard it (or maybe it wasn’t to my liking enough to make the Top 15). 

Wytch Hazel – IV: Sacrament – Outstanding proggy hard rock, like a mix of classic Demon and heavy Jethro Tull with a NWoBHM touch.

Cloud Catcher – Return From The Cauldron – Ball busting US powerful riff rockers do it again! 

A.C.T – Falling – My favorite Swedish pop-progsters never disappoint! 

Blindstone – Scars To Remember – Martin sure knows how to riff!!

The Cold Stares – Voices – US blues rockers that deliver yet another killer album!

Dirty Honey – Can’t Find The Brakes – The 70s rules! Dirty Honey proves it!

Beastmaker – Body And Soul – Previously unreleased demos, yet, bloody great stuff! For fans of classic Black Sabbath.

Vandenberg – Sin – Mats Leven has sure brought a new touch to this excellent classic band!

Timechild – Blossom & Plague – The Danes manage to follow up their debut with an even better album! 

Prins Svart – Till vårt försvar – Mats Leven, again, delivers the goods with these excellent Swedish riff rockers!

Tania Kikidi – Wings Of Freedom – Tania has leather coated vocal cords, perfect for this bluesy metal album!

Ego Planet – Ego Planet – More outstanding heavy riff rock! A KILLER debut!

Bloody Dice – Bloody Dice – A new Danish power combo that shows that Danish Dynamite is still highly explosive!

Zhiva – Into The Eye Of The Storm – Excellent heavy melodic Swedish rockers!

Future Elephants? – The Past Was A Blast… - Just love these slightly quirky Swedish progy rockers!

Honorary mentions:

Care Of Night – Reconnected – Killer AOR!

Sour Cream – Sour Cream – More killer retro riffing!

Sass Jordan – Live In New York Ninety-Four – Sass rocks! What a killer live album!!

Band: Bluestone

Title: Deliverance At The Crossroads

Year: 2019

Label: Grooveyard Records

After luring us in with a soft intro, Blindstone kicks the door in with a fat boot in the form of the best heavy riff of the day! Hell yeah!! Guitarist and singer Martin J. Andersen is a true master of heavy, fat and groovy riffs, who never disappoints! There’s an aura of Frank Marino hanging over his style and playing, but firmly anchored with a led sinker. It’s so heavy, groovy and funky you can’t help yourself from getting lost in the swing. Outstandingly great! At times, like in “One Beautiful Tribe” it’s heavy as a steamroller, while tracks like “Groove Nation” leans on a funky groove. A bit of Hendrix meets Marino, with a super fat production. Serious goosebumps! This also applies to Martin’s guitar playing in the bluesy ballad which gives the album its title. “Shouting From The Rooftops” is among the grooviest heavy funk rocker I’ve heard in years! Damn, what a track!! A song that sticks out a bit and brings Martin’s solo album to mind, is the instrumental track “Olympus”, a five minute orgy of brutal guitar riffs and solos. The semi-ballad “Another Day” is also a bit different in its approach. Beatlesque guitars and a surprisingly “modern” chorus. Also the finishing track, “Dove”, breaks new ground. A fantastic acoustic ballad, which is electrified halfway through and makes for a nice finish. Blindstone has never disappointed and if someone would ask which album I would recommend, I’d say – ALL!

Janne Stark

Blindstone – Blues-O-Delic Celebration (CD)

Danish power trio Blindstone has released a bunch of heavy, grinding, riff laden, groove crunchy, swag filed albums. They have also, now and then, flirted a bit with their roots, playing the odd cover. The band’s new effort is a full on “we’re now gonna show you how we do these old classics” party. Even though it starts off with B.B. King’s classic “Rock Me Baby”, as suspected perfectly Blindestoneified, most of the tracks aren’t your usual suspects. “Blood Stream” by Rocky Hill/Townes Van Zant and the power packed and super groovy version of Gonzales/Freddie King’s “Pick It Up”. The rendition of “Me And My Woman” is another one that’s given a kick ass overhaul, just like Guitar Shorty’s “Old School”, which has been given a cool more up-tempo Stevie Ray Vaughn vibe. I was a bit surprised to see a cover of a, in relation to the rest of the songs, relatively new song, “Something’s Got A Hold On Me”, originally by The Gales Bros. If you’re used to hearing UFO’s version of Willie Dixon’s “Built For Comfort”, you’ll probably get a kick out of hearing Blidstone’s lead heavy slow motion version. One track I got a big kick out was Leslie West’s “By The River”, one of my favorite West songs. Martin also does a really great job channeling his inner Rev Billy G in the cool re-make of ZZ Top’s “Bar-B-Q”. As always Martin play the crap out of his guitar and sings like a champ, while Jesper Bunk rips that chunky bass and (quite) new drummer Sigurd Jöhnk-Jensen lays down awesome grooves throughout the album. If you’re an old Blindstone fan, this one won’t disappoint! All these covers have been perfectly shaped to fit the Blindstone mould. A killer album!

Janne Stark

Label: Grooveyard Records

Year: 2017

Country: Denmark

Blindstone - The Seventh Cycle of Eternity (CD)

Danish power trio Blindstone continue their relentless journey in the sign of the mighty riff on this their seventh musical journey. This time around the band has gone through a change in personnel, introducing drummer Sigurd Jønk Jensen, replacing Anders Hvidfeldt. Anders did an outstanding job, but it feels Sigurd is switching the Blindstone drum department up yet another notch. He actually gets to show his skills already in the thundering opening track Dead Man's Blues, a heavy blues rocker, true to the Blindstone trademark. Guitarist/singer Martin J Andersen lets his guitar speak loudly all over the track, riffing, soloing and filling every crack and crevice with a tasteful bit of wah-ornamented guitar magic. Rolling switches into low gear and offers some crude and fat bass riffing from Jesper Bunk. Man, this is one steamroller of a track! Rebel In Black offers some nice dynamics with a cool verse and slow pace riffing. The backbeat bluesy On My Way offers a change in pace and sound with some (I presume) neck pick-up Strat riffing. One thing I actually do feel has changed a bit, is I don't (so far) hear as much Frank Marino influences, apart from Martin's similar vocal range and style. Ok, Looking Back, a beautiful ballad, does have a touch of Marino mixed with Trower, which is top notch in my book. Martin also stays away from the wah in this one and the solos are just out of this world in tone, clarity, feel, presence and tastefulness. Frickin' outstanding! The oddly title By The Suns Of Warvan, You Shall Be Avenged is a cool heavy riff-oriented instrumental with a strong feel of early Satriani. Wish Satch, whom I'm truly a huge fan of, would record a song like this today. Multi-facetted, melodic and un-shredding, still with truly impressive guitar work. Thunder From The North continues with some heavy guitar chugging and a surprisingly hooky and melodic pre-chorus. A great track, indeed! A Love Manifesto continues in the vein of its predecessor, but still with a totally different approach. Heavy, break-filled verse leaving lots of space for highly personal Martin's low-key vocals that fit so well with this type of music. It also offers another dose of killer solos. Stonesnake opens with some busy drumming and continues in a up-tempo boogie:ish vein, suddenly switching down to half speed in the verse. Killer track! Once again the band moves into the grinding, steamroller heavy-as-lead territory with Once You See The Signs. A crusher! Another cool surprise now comes in the form of Hendrix penned Power of Soul, a heavy blues rocker that has been given the proper Blindstone treatment. All in all, yet another top notch release from the Danes. Seven albums and not a single let-down. Impressive!

Janne Stark

Label: Grooveyard

Year: 2016

Country: Denmark

Blindside Blues Band – Journey To The Stars (CD)

Mike Onesko and Blindside Blues Band is something of an American institution. They released the debut album back in 1993 ad checking my own collection this is my BBB album number eleven. Racer X singer and Paul Gilbert/Badlands/MSG drummer Jeff Martin is back in the band, Steve Evans handles the bass and this time Mike has used the lead guitar skills of Danish dynamite guitarist Martin J. Andersen (Blindstone). I really like the previous BBB albums, but I think Andersen’s co-writing input gave the band a nice injection. The band feels truly vital and alive. They say you shouldn’t fix something that already works, but you can always rev up a motor to give it that extra boost. Mike also sings better than ever. I really like the mix of the songs on the album and don’t be fooled by the “blues band” tail in the name. This is not your standard four bar blues band. It is of course based on the blues, but this is so much more, with kick ass riffing hard as rock. They actually sometimes remind me of West, Bruce & Laing, but with more even quality song material. If you’ve never heard the band, this is where you start!

Janne Stark

Label: Grooveyard

Country: USA

Year: 2016