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!!

Heavy Roller – Heavy Roller (LP)

I’ve always had a soft spot for Australian hard rock ever since I heard Stevie Wright’s “Evie” back in 1974. Soon enough AC/DC popped up and on it went with bands like Rabbitt, Taste and later on excellent bands like Tracer, Electric Mary, Wolfmother and Twenty Two Hundred. Add Heavy Roller to this lot. A new four-piece from downunder that rocks big time! The band’s self-released debut kicks off with “Heavy Roller” in a powerful mid-tempo vein, followed by no frills up-tempo heavy rock ‘n roller “Jug”, that will give fellow-Aussies Airbourne a run for their money. The band consists of Luke Earthling on guitar, Cam Roach behind the drums, Dwain du Plessis on vocals and guitar and Gater Springate on bass and backing vocals. “Barfly” kicks the album into AC/DC style gear and you can almost feel the beer start flowing. “Getting’ By” is a super groovy, bluesy rocker with cool funky guitar work and Dwain’s gritty vocals on top. Love it! Side A closes with the stomping bluesy rocker “The Raven” with harmonica on top. On to side B and we head straight into the heavy rocking “Undead World”. A cool guitar chugging number at a medium pace (as Adam Sandler so eloquently put it). “Scavengers Delight” continues in a mid-tempo, but still pretty intense vibe and in the chorus, they do rock it out. It made me think of what The Hellacopters would’ve sounded like if they were an Australian band. “Deceiver” again gets the riff machine moving, with an almost punkish intensity. “Demon In Me” brings it back down quite a bit to a very smooth, but still kinda Iggy Pop-style number, which of course breaks out into full mayhem in the chorus. A great driving rocker! Side B finishes at full throttle with up-tempo party rocker “Burning Dollars”. All in all, a really solid debut from these Aussie rockers. Already looking forward to their next release!

Year: 2021

Country: Australia

Label: Thong Knife

Link: https://heavyrollerrock.bandcamp.com/album/heavy-roller

Roadhouse Diet – Won’t Bend Or Break (CD)

Swedish southern style power pack Roadhouse Diet are back with a vengeance. They immediately deliver the proof in opener "Powerload", which is a pedal to the metal melodic, yet heavy and powerful rocker with a nice twiddling guitar solo, followed by yet another power-pack in the form of "Devilmaker". The band has now been reinforced by keyboard player Per Wiberg (Spiritual Beggars, Mojobone, King Hobo, Opeth, DeathOrgan etc) and his presence shows, especially in the second number with his Hammond organ beefing up the sound. The album is produced, mixed and mastered by singer/lead guitarist Jonas Kjellgren, a man of many skills. I just love the powerful, organic sound and his blazing guitar work. I also like that fact that he knows not to just drive the guitar amp at full blast, like in Hard Times Ahead, where the guitar just chugs along in the background, and then bursts out in the chorus. Dynamics, people, dynamics! The intro of the title track also provides the chance for Per Wiberg to channel his inner John Lord, and the track itself actually beings his former band Mojobone to mind with it’s kinda quirky rhythmic pattern, even though it was written by Kjellgren. Maybe he’s channeling his inner Per Wiberg? If you’re a fan of bands like the aforementioned Mojobone, and also bands like The Company Band, The Killbilly 5’ers, Hogjaw, Five Horse Johnson – down and dirty southern boogie with a modern twist and the lead boots firmly on – check it out! If a track like "Over The Top, Then Down And Out" won’t hit you like a love-brick in the face, you need to book an appointment with your doctor!

Janne Stark

Label: Mojoholic Records

Year: 2017

Country: Sweden

Thungur - No Going Back (CD)

Here’s a new and modern sounding power pack called Thungur (heavy in Icelandic - remember Jorn’s Thungur Knivur - Heavy Knife), which I for some reason though were from Iceland, when it turns out they reside in Malmö, an hour from me. They were previously called Bend And Break, under which monicker they releaed two streaming albums. The album kicks off with the de-tuned riffing of "White Lies" sounding quite akin to fellows Corroded. Heavy, yet melodic, drop tuned hard rock with solid clean, albeit somewhat angry, vocals. Kristjan Samuelsson is a really great singer with a versatile voice, going all death metal in the verse of "Pink Champagne", but cleaning it up in the chorus. This track is all way darker and heavier than some of the other tracks. Guitarist Björn Stegerling doesn’t dwell in long guitar solos. If there’s even any, they are short and simple. His rhythm work is powerful as a brick wall, and his production likewise. Bassist Roger Nielsen and drummer Andreas Albihn backs him up with killer groove and heaviness. The songs are quite straightforward at a first glance, but there are some great quirky twists popping up here and there. Sometimes they sound a bit like the missing link between Black Label Society and Shinedown, which ain’t a bad thing in my book.

Gudars Skymning – V (CD)

Swedish rockers Gudars Skymning (Twilight of Gods, and also a Swedish equivalent of “Oh dear!”) have now released their fifth slab of seventies infused hard rock sung in their native tongue. If you’re into bands like Abramis Brama and Magnolia, this is without doubt right up your alley. After the instrumental heavy folsky “Orloks Boning” the band crushes on with the powerful riffster “Mars Makalös”. “Rakt ut I mörkret (olycksfågel del II)” continues with some heavy shuffle, leading into the up/mid-tempo chugging ”Allman” featuring Micke “Mojo” Nilsson on additional vocals and lead guitar. “Hjärtats ödemark” continues with some heavy riffing, a bit like blending Budgie, Black Sabbath and November. The verse and chorus of “Vid vansinnets berg” are almost a bit Sabbath doomy in the approach, while the bridge takes it into a slightly psychedelic landscape. “Soppan” starts out as a shuffle oriented number, but takes a turn into a doomy territory in the verse. What makes Gudars Skymning sound a bit different is Kenny-Oswald Dufvenberg’s slightly different melodic approach, which makes it quite unique. Even though the band has evolved a bit by each record, they haven’t strayed away from their original formula. This band just keep on delivering album after album, all having that high class and quality! Kick ass stuff!

Janne Stark

Label: Transubstans

Year: 2017

Country: Sweden

ELECTRIC RELIGIONS – The Awakening (MCD digi 5tr)

Steven Anderson is a Swedish guitar extraordinaire, who released an excellent solo album entitled Gypsy Power in the nineties. He has since recorded with bands such as Iubar, which not really belong to the heavier genres. Now he suddenly returns with the band Electric Religions. After a short intro, the song 1000 Battles (Know Thy Self) kicks off, giving Black Label Society a run for their money! Heavy, powerful and a real crusher, lightened up by the melodic, yet powerful, vocal delivery of female singer Neili Bjerring. Lee Chao-Long takes the journey on a different route, here with a cool, but heavy, oriental sounding touch. Good Fortune starts off almost a bit Hendrixy, to kick off in full-on doom mode, also here with a strong oriental touch. The EP rounds off with yet another cool, but heavy crusher. Son Of Confusious also has a slightly psychedelic feel to it, blending heavy doomy riffs, an oriental vibe and long swirling sections with effect-style guitars. The song is mostly instrumental with some really great melodic playing from Steven. All in all this was a really great surprise, and a really great release! Much heavier than I anticipated! Now I’m looking forward to a full-length album. Yes, sir!

Janne Stark

Year: 2014

Label: Psychic Eye

Country: Sweden

Link: www.electricreligions.se

ELECTRIC EARTH - Touching The Void (CD digi)

Electric Earth have been quiet for a while, but now they are back again. It’s been four years since the last release “Vol II – Words Unspoken”, which was a pretty good release. When listening to “Touching The Void” I do hear some development in the style. It’s a bit less post-grungy and a bit more seventies, but also a bit darker and heavier. Tracks like “Collision With A Sun” and “Touching The Void” offer some cool retro-vibes, at times with a stonery touch. They do however offer some great melodies among the heavy riffing, like the chorus of "Free Fall” and the slightly poppy “Need This Time”. One track that really sticks out is the almost punky, “Black Butterfly”. The stonerish overtones shine through in songs like “Sugartooth”. I also hear some touches of Black Label Society in songs like “Harvest Time”, “Bird Of Phoenix” and “Skinstretched”, where the chorus however goes in a totally unexpected, very melodic direction. An album well worth waiting for and checking out!

Janne Stark
Label: TYSS Music
Country: Sweden
Year: 2011
Link: http://www.electricearth1.com/

THREE MINUTE MADNESS - Disgraceful (CD)

Sometimes I hate trying to label music. Swedish Umeå-based rockers Three Minute Madness is one band I have a hard time describing without using words that may scare some potential listeners away. Ok, it’s modern, it’s quite heavy and it’s melodic. No, there’s no rap and there’s no aggro vocals. I totally love this album. The guys have found a nice mix of modern melodic rock adding little touches of Guns ‘N Roses and even the odd piece that reminds me of later days Europe. The guitar solo in “Open Eyes” definitely has a strong Slash vibe to it. Yes, the album does have classic guitar solos! Here are hints of Foo Fighters, a touch of Creed and a post-grunge touch. They actually remind me of a Swedish band probably no one remembers, called Downstroke. But, never mind the genres and comparisons, this band definitely stands on its own ten legs, strong and proud. Singer Fredrik Norman is one helluva strong part of the bands sound, but without the catchy, well arranged and strong songs he would be singing for deaf ears. This is definitely a band effort where all the pieces fit perfectly together. Great sound, great songs, well played and sung with conviction and feel. So, quit reading this and check out their MySpace to listen for yourself.

/Janne Stark

Genre: Modern melodic hard rock

Label: Mondo Nuevo

Release: 2009

Country: Sweden

Weblink: http://www.myspace.com/threeminutemadness