The Sonic Overlords - The Last Days Of Babylon (CD/LP)

 

If you’re a fan of the Tony Martin era Black Sabbath, here’s a band you definitely shouldn’t miss out on! Swedish quartet The Sonic Overlords (who really do their name justice) is fronted by singer Marcus Zachrisson Rubin with Morgan Zocek (Sideburn) on guitar, Daniel Ramirez on bass and Per Soläng (Corroded) behind the drums. The album kicks off with slightly oriental sounding up-tempo rocker “Utopia”, making me think of Rainow meets Black Sabbath, while next track “In My Darkest Room” takes the tempo down to a nice mix of slow Sabbathy doom riffs and melodic vibes. “Fools” picks up the pace again and even if I do see Black Sabbath peeking out behind the corner it does have a nice dose of Sonic Overlords personality. “Lords Of Tomorrow” takes us back down into the basement… even under the basement. Doom of the highest order, in league with Swedish colleagues Sorcerer. A really fat riff with nice melodic vocals. This is great stuff, indeed! “World of Fire” starts off nice and easy to develop into a powerful ballad resting on a heavy foundation. Marcus, who also fronts cover band Ozzy The Coverband, does a great job, and despite the risk of doing so, does not sound like a copy of neither Ozzy, Tony or Dio. He definitely has his own touch which fits this band like a glove. “Sands of Time” is a mid-tempo cruncher which reminds me a bit of Grand Magus on “Iron Will”, but also with some softer parts weaved in. Very nice and dynamic. ”Shine” continues in the same vein, where they take it down with a softer pre-verse, and then flick the power switch and even features a football chorus as a new dimension. “Children of the Night” provides another dose of doom riffing. Detuned, heavy and powerful with Marcus’ voice as a flag bearer on top of the black mountain. One of my favorites on the album! “Eternal Heroes” picks up the tempo and the riffs are mean and suggestive, but the song still has a fateful feeling hanging over it. In the last track, “Past the End of Time” none less than Tony Martin guests on vocals. Maybe not totally surprising, since the song also has a strong vibe of Black Sabbath. The fact is I hardly hear the difference between Tony and Marcus’ vocals (and still I don’t feel Marcus sounds like Tony… figure that one out). I must also say, I really like the production, which is fat and powerful yet quite dynamic.

/Janne Stark

Year: 2021

Label: M-Theory

Void Commander – River (CD/LP)

Not sure why, but Sweden is more or less spitting out high quality retro/stoner rock bands! Sometimes the vocals are the weak link (for me at least), but most bands are damn good and they have a different approach than many of the foreign colleagues. So, add the name Void Commander to that list. The band is a power trio consisting of Linus Olsson on bass and vocals, Bobby Karlsson on guitar, vocals and harmonica and Jimmy Jönsson on drums. The riffs hit you like a brick and the sound is pleasantly analogue sounding with a lot of space and air. The vocals are first rate, both the voice itself and there’s also quite a lot of harmony vocals (which is not that common in this genre). The title track “River Lord” rips the album open with a killer mangling riff, which is suddenly thrown aside by a very odd jazz section which really makes you raise your eyebrows. Next up is “Stoner Eyes”, which is almost more of a doom style song with its slow and heavy driving riffs. Bringing back the early Ozzy vibe of combining doomy guitars with a harmonica solo, too, which is cool! Short but sweet. ”Worship Midnight” enters into a more bluesy vein, which also applies to “AGN”, while “Fucked Up” takes us back to the slower doom/stoner domains with a hi-hat that would have been considered a cymbal had it been opened just a tad bit more. Nice and messy, but they still manage to make it sound tight and organized. Unfortunately, the vocals are bit too shouty at the end, but otherwise fine! “I’m Drowning” starts out a bit carefully in a sort of bluesy southern rock vein, and after an unabashed count-in, the steamroller breaks loose! The dynamic verse does return, so it’s not total mayhem. Great shit! ”Shroom Bloody Shroom” finsihes the album in a classic slow and heavy stoner manner. I almost had some Sabbath vibes here (even without the title). A great album that will spin many times in the Stark residence!

Janne Stark

Label: Ozium

Year: 2021

Closet Monster 96 – What’s Inside Trixie’s Closet? (CD)

There are a lot of albums out there that deserve to have more spotlight on them. Back in 1996 the album “What’s Inside Trixie’s Closet?”, by the band Closet Monster, was released, but unfortunately passed under most people’s radar. Not mine, however, and that was because Joe Romagnola, the mastermind behind Grooveyard Records, turned me on to the band. Well, what’s more suitable than for Joe to again put the spotlight on this hidden South Dakota gem. It’s actually quite hard to pinpoint what Closet Monster sound like. Singer Jon Koopman does have quite a distinct touch of Ozzy Osbourne, while the music ranges from slightly King’s X influenced songs to straight ahead riff oriented heavy rock. In 1995 the band Phychotherapy released an album entitled “Tell Me When It Hurts”. There are similarities, but since you probably haven’t heard about them either I guess it’s no point me mentioning them. But. I did. Anyway. All I can say is that this is a kick ass hard rocker with great melodies, quirky riffs and high-class vocals, played by a great band. If you missed it the first time, don’t repeat the mistake!

Janne Stark

Label: Grooveyard Records

Year: 2017

Country: USA

Hot Ham & Cheese - The Onions Have Eyes (CDr pro)

Even though the band name is almost as silly as the album title, the music actually kicks ass. The album starts off with the pretty straight ahead and powerful ”Scorpion’s Dilemma”, followed by ”Drones”, which is almost a bit progressive in its build-up, blending some Faith No More elements into the mix. Killer guitar playing from Charlie, who also provides some really great vocals sounding a bit like a mix of Mike Patton and Ty Tabor. ”Worth it or Worthless” is a heavy, crunchy bulldozer rocker, a bit like mixing Monster Magnet and Clutch. ”Onions” is a weird one, heavy yet a bit messy with slightly un-melodic Ozzy:ish vocals. Things are about to get even weirder when the band spits out punk rocker ”12-step Billy”, which makes little sense. ”Fo Lig” steers the wagon back on track with its stonerish funk attitude. I like it! ”Living in the Gutter” moves into Red Hot Chilli Peppers meet Rage Against The Machine territory with its funk o metal rap style, while the acoustic ”Whitetail” throws a total curveball. A nice ballad. Ok, Neil Young’s ”Rockin’ in the Free World” may not be a bad song, but for an album I would have chosen a slightly more interesting and exciting cover (I admit, I don’t even like it with Neil Young), or I would at least do something exciting with it. A bit off a turn-off on a really good and interesting album. Will definitely check out their previous stuff!

Janne Stark

Year: 2017

Country: USA

Label: Jib Machine Records

ASTRAL DOORS – Notes From The Shadows (CD)

Astral Doors have been around for quite some time now and even though singer Patrik Johansson is now fronting post-Sabaton band Civil War, he still delivers the goods on the new Astral Doors release. He still puts on his best vocal Ronnie Dio suite, which I did have some problems with initially, but I’ve actually grown to like the guy. He’s also taken on a more personal approach and it’s become more of his own style now. Conclusion: I really like it! The musical delivery is also top notch. The track “Disciples Of The Dragon Lord” actually reminds me quite a lot of Accept, especially the powerful guitars and the “Balls To The Wall” style choir. This is a really good piece of classic hard rock/metal like they it’s supposed to be done. Power chords straight between the eyes, a wall of guitars, keyboards filling out the voids in the background, stomping drums and powerful vocals. “Wailing Wall” is a perfect example, and it also has an element of Jake E Lee style “Bark At The Moon” chugging. Great lead work from guitarist Joachim Nordlund!  “Shadowchaser” has a riff way too reminiscent of “Man Of The Silver Mountain” for comfort, but ok, I’ll look away as the rest of the songs is no where close. “Die Alone” is a really great, epic and powerful song in the vein of UK band Tytan (probably my first comparison because I just listened to the excellent “Blind Men And Fools”). The intro riff of “Walker And Stalker” bears quite a big resemblance with the riff in Ozzy’s “Miracle Man”. It seems like Astral Doors have, quite deliberately, snuck in their influences in each of the songs. I have no problem with that. It does instead have its charm, since it’s only brief stuff here and there. This is a really good album indeed!

Janne Stark

Label: Metalville
Year: 2014
Country: Sweden
Link: www.astraldoors.com

HUMAN COMETH - HCII (CD)

In 2010 the first Human Cometh album, Evolution, was unearthed. A very promising release indeed. Human Cometh is actually an on-line collaboration conducted by great guitar shredder Morgan Pettersson. Some of the recordings were done in Sweden, while the drums were recorded in the USA. Now the follow-up is here. Well, I’ve done the on-line collaboration thing myself with Constancia and I know how hard it is to make it glue together and sound like you were actually recording together. Morgan and the boys have succeeded very well. HCII is one solid sounding album. Great performances, great mix and a very coherent album in all areas. Morgan is a really great and interesting guitarist with a nice tone and impeccable technique. Singer Kaj Roth has been in the shadows for years, never really getting to shine on record. Here he does a great job indeed! The bass work is handled by Björn Pehrson, keyboards by American Jay Shankman and drums by fellow country man Jon Robbins with Rob Coney handling backing vocals. The style is classic hard edge melodic metal/hard rock, sort of the same file I’d put Ozzy Osbourne and Hughes/Martin era Black Sabbath, but there are songs that deviate from the formula. One being the cool melodic rocker Challenger Deep, which gets a nice vocal facelift by Josefin Bäck. There are also some proggy moments here and there mixed in with straight ahead heavy riff-rockers such as Supervolcano. A great album, well worth checking out!!
Janne Stark
Label: Self-released
Country: Sweden
Link: www.humancometh.com
 

SILVERDOLLAR - Morte (CD)

Swedish band Silverdollar I remember from the beginning of 2000, when they used to play covers. Their first CD Covers From Hell contained renditions of Ozzy Osbourne, Dio, Motörhead, Iron Maiden, WASP etc. This actually feels quite evident when listening to the band’s third album Morte. There’s a bit of Judas Priest here, a bit of Maiden there, some Helloween inbetween, topped with a bit of Zakk Wylde-harmonics and a singer that sounds like mixing Kai Hansen, Udo Diskschneider, Rob Halford and adding Bruce Dickinson’s vibrato. I’m not saying this is bad, because it asn’t. It’s just, well, lacking personality. I hear a lot of influenced but very little originality, or even their own spin. Everything sounds like something I’ve heard somewhere before. Like I said, what they do, they do do great, but I have heard it before, and I’m not sure I’ll be listening that frequently.
Janne Stark
Label: Massacre
Country: Sweden
Year: 2011