KING MOUNTAIN – Wrath Of The Gods (CD)

This is the fourth physical album (their sixth in total) in that many years by Greek bluesy stoner rockers King Mountain. On guitar and vocals, of course, the multi-talented Stavros Papadopoulos. The album starts out pretty cool and calm to burst into some really heavy, almost doomy riffs. It evolves into a really nice semi-soft, heavy bluesy number, the ones you usually find in the second half of an album. It almost has kind of a King’s X vibe to it, as well. Interesting! “Firebringer” brings in a bit of classic metal into the mix. “Evil Deadly Nights” is as slow and doomy as they come, while “Midas Touch” is a nice acoustic ballad that turns into a slow epic heavy number. “Until the Day I’m Gone” is another crushing metal number. “Axecalibur” is crushing riff monster featuring some killer bass playing from John Christopoulos and brilliant soloing from Stavros while “Retribution” is another heavy rock hitter. I’m not sure why this band is often labeled as a “stoner” band. This is classic heavy rock with some heavier passages and quite a nice variety in the song writing. A great album indeed!

Janne Stark

Label: Grooveyard Records

Country: Greece

Year: 2023

Link: https://grooveyardrecords.com/

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

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

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

Rockicks – Keep On Rockin’ (A Retrospective Anthology)

FINALLY!!!! G’daaaam! I’ve been waiting for this 70s classic to be released on CD since Moses was running around in shorts. Rockicks classic album “Inside” was released on RSO Records back in 1976 and I bought the LP back then. The band delivers a big chunk of southern influenced hard rock with dual guitars all over the place. There are heavy rockers like “Consideration”, rockers like “Rock N’ Roll Band”, powerful hard rockers like “Sweet Wealth” and “Keep On Rockin”. What was a huge surprise was that besides the 8 tracks from the original album there’s a SHITLOAD of previously unreleased bonus tracks here!! 7 tracks on the CD containing the album AND an extra CD with another 14 (!!) tracks!!! There’s a whole lot of killer stuff here! Damn, I wish they would have been given the opportunity to record a follow-up. Not that these tracks are badly recorded, but they could have been even better! 16 of the bonus tracks are from 1977! Damn! That’s even two albums (ok, there are a few alternate versions). There are also three really great tracks from 1991-1992. The quality of these tracks makes me wonder why there wasn’t another album there and then! The quality, both musically and soundwise is killer! The final track is a 2005 alternate version of “Consideration”, a sort of lounge version. Not bad at all, but I do prefer the heavy version. Unfortunately, two of the original members have passed, Rick Altschuler in 2004 and Brian Naughton in 2012, so I guess a Rockicks re-union is out of the question. Well, this double shot will at least give you the bands outstanding music in digital shape and form. A must!!

Janne Stark

Label: Grooveyard Records

Year: 2018

Country: USA

Vindicata – Beneath The Surface (CD)

This was not really what I expected to hear from the Grooveyard, I must admit! Vindicata, fronted by the raspy and fiery power pack Mary Magill leans more towards modern detuned riff-oriented hard rock (think Sevendust, Alter Bridge etc.) than the 70s influenced bluesy stuff we’re used to hearing from the guitar label of guitar labels. However, I must say I do not mind at all. This is some heavy shit! The band was previously called Half The World and released two CDs, now really rare and hard to find. The band changed their name to Vindicata and “Beneath The Surface” is a compilation of these two albums, but with a couple of changes. The band has also added the talent of Chris Poland (Ohm, OHMphrey, Megadeth etc). He has added some outstanding solos on almost all the tracks!  Even though the albums were written and originally recorded a few years apart and they were released some years ago, this does feel like a very homogenous and fresh album! You definitely can’t tell it’s a not a "new" album (I was actually halfway through the album before I was like – Where the hell have I heard this before??). Guess the band was a bit ahead of its time. Great band! Looking forward to hearing some new material!

Janne Stark

Label: Grooveyard Records

Year: 2018

Country: USA

Link: www.facebook.com/vindicataband

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Revolution Highway – Revolution Highway (CD)

Man, when this album kicked off I was immediately thrown back to when I first heard the debut album by Montrose back in 1973. Earthy, analogue hard rock with phat riffs, pounding drums and a singer that rips! David Fefolt is his name and he’s previously been heard in bands like FireWölf, Hawk and Masi). Nothing wrong with his past ventures, but this one kicks them top the curb! So, who’s delivering the guitar riffs if not the hardest working man in Greece, Mr Stavros Papadopolous of Universal Hippies, Freerock Saints and Super Vintage. He’s really proved to be a riff force to be reckoned with on his other releases, and here he really sums it up, blending his bluesy licks and his powerful riffing capabilities. Two songs in and I’m in hook, line, singer and rod! This is without doubt one of the best albums of 2018! If you’re into bands like Montrose, (the sadly underrated) Manic Eden or Badlands with a touch of heavier 80s hard rock (think Whitesnake “1980”) this one’s for you. As usual it’s got flawless, powerful production from Stavros. When I hear an intro and a riff like in “All The Way Down” a big smile just floats out all over my face. This ROCKS (yes, capital letters required)! There’s honestly not a single weak track on the album! My biggest problem will be, getting it out of my CD-player, as it will probably get stuck from melting of excessive playing. A killer album indeed (if you haven’t gathered that by now)!

Janne Stark

Country: Greece/USA

Year: 2018

Label: Grooveyard Records