Matti Norlin & Anders Norudde – Blåställ (CD)

Matti Norlin started his career in metal bands like Wizard and Ninja, but soon slided into the blues with solo releases and the excellent band Badge. Here’s another release in the blues school. This time together Anders Norudde on violin, bagpipe, cow horn (?), Willow flute and various odd instruments. ”Håll käft” (shut up) starts off with its cocky attitude dealing with the current machine based music. Cocky up-tempo blues with odd musical coloring. ”Aldrig riktigt nöjd” (never completely satisfied) reminds me of ”Come On In My Kitchen” by Robert Johnson, but when I checked the credits it was actually an old Muddy Waters number. “Flaska kär” (bottle dear) is a classic porch blues, where I kinda feel the fiddle is more in the way than helping. The guitar would be enough here. All in all I really like the songs, I love Mattis vocals and his guitar playing, but I do feel there are sometimes a bit too many instruments, where I feel some don’t really fit in, or at least get a bit too much space in the music. 

Janne Stark

Label: private release
Year: 2022
Country: Sweden

Craig Erickson – Modern Blues (CD)

Craig Erickson is a true groove master. He’s been true to the heavy, groovy blues rock since his debut “Roadhouse Stomp!” in 1992. It’s been a few years since his last physical album "Sky Train Galaxy", which was released in 2015. “Modern Blues” is really an example of what you read is what you get. Of course, “modern” can mean a lot of things. In this case it’s not about samples, machine generated grooves or auto tune abominations. It more the vibe. It’s blues and it’s rock and it doesn’t sound dated, which would qualify as “modern” in my book. The guitar is definitely in the forefront, and it’s Craig handling both guitar, bass, keyboards and vocals, only taking some help from drummer Jeff Sipe. I’ve always felt Craig has a pretty strong Robin Trower vibe to his vocals and playing, and it’s no different this time around. The vocals are pretty relaxed, yet rough, but no high pitch screaming, rather the missing link between James Dewar and Billy Gibbons. The guitar playing shines throughout the album and some songs that kinda stick out to me is the incredibly cool fuzzed out “Bring Love Back Again” with its funky vibe and brutal guitar licks and also the heavy, yet dynamic “Brokedown World” with its subtle but really beautiful Uni-Vibe Strat tone. I also can help to mention another song that sticks out a bit, which is “Wildfire”, which starts out a bit reminding of vintage southern rockers The Outlaws, but goes into a more funky direction. A really cool number with some intense and outstanding guitar solos with a cool fusion oriented vibe to them. Highly recommended!

Label: Fervor Records 

Country: USA

Year: 2023

Tony Spinner – Official Live Bootleg (CD)

Tony Spinner goes live, and he kicks it off with an excellent version of The Nightcaps’ old “Thunderbird”, which I first heard by ZZ Top, and Tony does it in true ZZ Top mode. This album, featuring 14 songs, was recorded at the Blues In Rhede festival in Germany. Listening to this I really wish I was there! This is really a powerful, energetic set featuring a bunch of Tony’s originals mixed with covers of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Ten Years After etc. Especially the explosive version of Ten Years After’s “I May Be Wrong” would be worth the admission fee by itself. The mix is dynamic, yet powerful with flawless playing and vocals. A live album where you really feel the live energy through the speakers! A must!

Janne Stark

Label: Grooveyard Records

Year: 2022

Country: USA

Bryce Janey – Blue Moon Rising (CD)

This is Bryce’s thirteenth album (if I counted correctly) and it’s a cool, guitar-heavy blues rock affair. Bryce has a cool, raspy blues rock voice that fits the style perfectly. At times he reminds me a bit of mix between Michael Katon and Danny Joe Brown. His guitar playing is cool, bluesy, not overblown, but it does feel a little bit restrained at times, like he doesn’t want to wake up the neighbors. That’s actually my only (small) complaint about this album. The intensity of the lead guitar isn’t at par with the intensity of the rhythm guitars. Even if the songs sometimes are kinda slow and laid back, they are always gritty and (positively) nasty. There are also some really low down and dirty rockers, like the excellent “Blue Moon Rising”. There’s also a funky vibe that sneaks into songs like “Pain In My Heart” and “Lonesome Train”. If you’re into guitar-based blues rock with a southern touch “Blue Moon Rising” is well worth checking out!

Janne Stark

Label: Grooveyard Records

Year: 2022

Country: USA

Super Vintage – Guardians Of Tradition (CD)

Greece’s most prolific rocker is at it again! Stavros delivers album after album with various projects and bands. Super Vintage hears him rock out in riff rock land. “Guardians Of Tradition” is his sixth album with Super Vintage. The album kicks off with the groovy sleazy blues rocker “Southern Ride”, which leaves off to the Blackfoot sounding “Indian Soul” with some nice classic southern rock guitar solos. “Hero” starts out soft and nice, but kicks in some heavy guitars and turns into a nice southern rock style semi-power-ballad. “Rolling Thunder” kicks it into gear and also features some cool slide guitar. A really nice and very dynamic song with lots of different layers. “Down Down” starts of kinda familiar with a slide guitar but moves into a different direction with some cool finger picking, to again move it up a notch and transform into a cool bluesy southern rock number, with some cool dirty slide and solo work from Stavros. “T For Tennessee” brings it into up-tempo mode and do get a vibe of vintage Blackfoot here as well. Think “Marauder” or “Tomcattin”. “Naked Truth” continues the hard and heavy rocker mode and this one really hits home with me. Powerful and sleazy! Without going into each of the remaining tracks continue in the same vein, except for “Rise And Fall” which is a bit too “country” for my taste. All in all, a kick ass album!

Janne Stark

Label: Grooveyard Records

Year: 2022

Country: Greece

Gerfast – Legendary Grooves (CD)

Swedish blues rock guitarist Jan Gerfast has been around for quite a few years now. He released his first album “Rollin’ With The Blues” in 1992 and this is his 9th album (counting the “Electric Power Blues” compilation on Grooveyard Records). The new CD starts out kinda lazy with the track “Love” and picks it up a notch with the lyrically current funky song “No More”. “Shame On You” takes it down a bit again and “in “Running Out Of Time” we’re leaving the electric land and it’s all acoustic. Comparing “Legendary Grooves” to Gerfast’s early albums I notice two things which I’m not a huge fan of. The amount of distortion on the guitar has decreased and the vocal vibrato has increased. To be honest it has been a while since I heard a Gerfast album, and this is actually a little bit too lightweight for my taste. It’s by no means a bad album, just a bit too clean and slick for my taste. However, it does really pick up in the album closer “Psychedelic Blue” and I wish the rest of the material would’ve been more in this vein. 

Janne Stark

Label: Magic Music

Year: 2021

Country: Sweden

Cirkus Prütz - Blues Revolution (CD/LP)

 

Swedish quartet Cirkus Prütz (named after something as unusual as the bass player! Well, there’s gotta be a first, nudge nudge wink wink) now releases their second album and already the opening numbers makes you happy. Highly addictive boogie rock with the diesel tank filled to the brim. The band is fronted by The Quill guitarist Christian Karlsson, here also on lead vocals which he handles more than well. He has a cool bluesy voice that fits that band’s style perfectly. The band is also equipped with a second guitarist who knows his stuff, Franco Santunione formerly of Electric Boys. The band’s front bassist Jerry Prütz has earlier released a bunch of albums with hard rockers W.E.T (not to be confused with the current unit featuring Mårtensson and Soto). ”Boogie Woogie Man” has a bit of ZZ Top vibes in the intro riff, but definitely stands on its own legs. Also the subsequent “Modern Day Gentle man” flirts with the beards with a fitting “every girl wants…” thrown in. A nice rocker! ”Let’s Join Hands” takes it all in a totally different direction with its country vibe making me think of a mix between the theme songs for “True Blood” and “True Detective” with vocals reaching down to Christian’s cojones. Next up is the highly Muddy Waters influenced “The Devil In Me” with a classic riff and some other feathers borrowed from Willie Dixon. ”Howl Like A Wolf” takes the tempo up and struts along with some cool licks. “Headache” is a heavier and also really cool number, also one whose riff teases the memory, while “Gotta Quit Drinking” is a classic slow blues with piano as an extra ingredient. ”Death Knock Blues” is a classic Molly Hatchet style southern rocker, and it actually now dawns on me that Christian does remind me a bit of Hatchet’s original (late) singer Danny Joe Brown, which is a good thing in my book! The album finishes off with what could’ve been a cover of Chuck Berry, classic 50s style rock & roll. It does take guts to play something as simple and straight ahead today. Kudos for that. This is car music, top down, a party rocker and a really nice energy injection if you need it!

/Janne Stark

Year: 2022

Label: Metalville

Country: Sweden

Jesse Jay Johnson – Man On A Mission (CD)

It’s been a few years since Jesse set the blues on fire. To show he is still on fire, he opens the new album with the smoking hot “Got To Burn”. “You got to burn if you want to shine” – and shines it does. A cool stomping blues rocker, indeed! “Livin’ On Rock ‘N Roll” kicks it into backbeat and lets out a classic blues rocker, while “Man On A Mission” starts off almost like Robin Trower’s “Day of The Eagle”, but only the intro riff. Powerful classic blues rock. In “Good As Gone” Jesse takes it down into a groove funky vibe, while “No Disguise” is a smooth blues ballad with Jesse’s outstanding guitar playing and soulful vocals. “Whatever You Want” kicks it back into gear with that perfect neck pick-up Strat grind and a funky touch. “One Day At A Time” brings out the guitar and slide and places the vibe on the porch, at least in the intro, while the verse brings us into full blues-rocking mode. “Tearin’ Down The Walls” adds a bit of organ to the mix, but the funky vibe is still the same. “Rock The Blues” is a cool, driving, shuffle rocker, while album closing track “Beyond The Horizon” kicks off with a smooth keyboard and a searing Strat solo and goes into a sound track for the open fields. A very good album, I must say!

Year: 2021

Country: USA

Label: Grooveyard Records

Link: www.grooveyardrecords.com

Tania Kikidi - Rock & Roll Paradise (CD)

 

Greece has presented some good stuff now and then, unfortunately not that often. However, in the last 6-7 years there’s been a bunch of good stuff with a nice 70s vibe coming out with bands like Universal Hippies, King Mountain, Hard Driver, Freerock Saints and Super Vintage. One guy has a finger in each of the pies, guitarist, singer, producer Stavros Papadopoulos. So also here, meaning my expectations are quite high. Tania kicks off the opening track and immediately shows how things are done! Power-rock, hard rock, riff rock – classic hard rock with great melodies, fat guitars and Tania’s rocking voice as the icing on the cake. This starts out really good! “Queen Rider” continues in the same vein. It’s kinda hard to describe the style more than saying it’s 100 % rocking classic and quite timeless hard rock in the same musical territory as classic Dio and Victory, but with Tania’s voice as a new element putting them in a lane of their own. “Freedom Highway” invites you to some serious riffing with a nudge to the old Zep school, but a chorus closer to southern rock. “Night Burner” fills upp the riff account again and this one brings classic 70s bands like Teaze, Moxy and Riot to mind, and a riff that made me think of Whitesnake’s “Still of the Night”. Without going through each and every track on the album I’ll say that the overall quality is high, the song material is quite uniform but still varied enough to make it an interesting album. The fact is that the album rocks my world in every track! If you like classic hard rock with great riffs and a singer with the right rock edge, this album is a must The production, as Stavros’ productions usually is, is dynamic yet fat and powerful with kick ass guitars and drums that sound natural. High scores there as well! 

/Janne Stark

Year: 2021

Label: Grooveyard Records

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

Cirkus Prütz – White Jazz – Black Magic (CD)

This combo features quite a few years of Swedish music history. Prütz himself, is bass player Jerry Prütz, formerly of the bluesy hard rock band W.E.T (not the recent melodic rockers) who released a bunch of singles and albums between 1987-2002. Guitarist Franco Santunione has played with bands like Glory Bells, Glory Bell’s Band and Electric Boys, while singer/guitarist is most known for his guitar magic in The Quill. He turns out to be a great singer as well, with a cool low down and half-dirty blues voice. The drums are handled by Per Kohlus. Cirkus Prütz plays classic bluesy hard boogie rock with a southern rock swagger. Shotgun Wedding Blues takes us to southern shuffle country, while Aim To Please has a classic Steve Ray Vaughan swagger to it. The Gary Mooreish bluesy “Blues For Fallen Heroes” is a very nice tribute to two of the band’s former guitarists, who sadly passed away: Mikael Fässberg and Robert “Strängen” Dahlquist. “Hell To Pay” is a kick-ass groovy, riff rocker that really hits home! One of my favorite tracks! “Friends” and “Hats And Strats”, both remind me a bit of early Molly Hatchet and Christian actually has a bit of Danny Joe Brown in his voice, come to think of it. A really nice footstompin’ classic southern style blues rock album!

Janne Stark

Label: Metalville

Year: 2019

Country: Sweden

Sakis Dovolis Trio – Cross The Line (CD)

Man, it seems the blues has really hit Greece! They have produced the fantastic talent of Stavros Papadopolous (who has also co-produced this album), with his Universal Hippies, Freerock Saints and Super Vintage. Here, his fellow country man Sakis proves he too can deliver the goods! It does say “trio”, so of course he’s got two fellows taking care of the bass (Fotis Dovolis) and drums (Nick Kalivas), and they do it with power, groove and assertiveness indeed! The album kicks off with the riff rockin’ “All Over You” in same same territory as Robin Trower, Craig Erickson, Philip Sayce. Lance Lopez and with a touch of Stevie Ray in his leads. Sakis is a phenomenal guitarist and also a great singer! If someone had played it to me without saying the band name, I would have said 100 % American. Well, Sakis also knows how to deliver crunchy and groovy riffs. “Everything” is as groovy as they come with Sakis letting that Strat rip the air a new one! Damn, this guy does rip!! He also manages to keep the momentum up delivering one number after another. There’s some heavy, detuned riffing going on in the title track giving it a different vibe, some more mellow, funky and almost jazzy playing in “Show Me Your Love” and he does it a really cool version of ZZ Top’s “Nasty Dogs And Funky Kings”. The album closes with Sakis’ tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan, and a fine one it is. A cool, bluesy ballad with outstanding guitar playing. A killer of an album, indeed!

Janne Stark

Year: 2018

Label: Grooveyard Records

Country: Greece

Link: www.sakisdovolis.com