KINSKIN – Kinskin (CD)

Here’s another prime example of first class heavy weight rock from Sweden. If you’re into bands like Mustasch, try mixing it with some Spiritual Beggars and a touch of vintage Alice In Chains, and you may get Kinskin… or Ground Mower, they are actually in a similar vein, both equally great. You may also get headache… if you turn it up too loud and play the album through twice, which I did. But, it was damn worth it! This is a killer debut! Heavy, grinding, yet groovy and quite melodic heavy rock with nice raspy vocals. Fat, rich and powerful production, too. Highly recommended, verging on a must have!

Janne Stark

Label: private

Year: 2013

Country: Sweden

Link: www.kinskin.se

EVIL MASQUERADE - Requiem (CD)

Evil Masquerade have delivered quite a bunch of high class albums leaning on the legacy of late seventies/early eighties bands like Rainbow and Deep Purple. Think Rainbow Rising mixed with Perfect Strangers with a heavier edge at times. Singer Apollo Papathanasio is also found in bands like Firewind and Spiritual Beggars, and he does an equally great job here with a voice that fits the style like a glove. Guitarist Henrik Flyman has also played in bands like Moahni Moahna and ZooL, bands that also had hints of the same style, especially the latter. Great, tasteful guitar playing is his forte. Not forgetting the excellent rhythm section featuring bassist Thor Jeppesen and drummer Dennis Buhl, who both provides a really solid and quite groovy foundation. Don’t expect no bells or whistles, this is classic hard rock the way it’s supposed to be played. This is the type of album I always tend to fall back to after having been enchanted by some technical wizardry for ten minutes. You know what you get, but what you get is a good and solid album that you can listen to beginning to end and each track just makes you feel good. Like I said, classic hard rock played and sung great with a fat and solid production.
Janne Stark
Label: Dark Minstrel
Year: 2012
Country: Sweden
Link: www.evilmasquerade.com

ABSORBING THE PAIN - Songs Of Hate, With Love (CD)

Rambo Music, a new Swedish label that is really vacuuming the Swedish market for new interesting acts. Here’s another one – Absorbing The Pain. I had actually missed the debut by these Örnsköldsvik boys, but was quite blown away by Songs Of Hate! If Spiritual Beggars and Black Label Society would have a threesome in a concrete blender that resulted in a bastard child, this might be it. Heavy detuned riffs, staccato crunch and clean strong vocals riding on top of this concrete bed. I do like Black Label Society, but sometimes the songs kinda melt together and Zakk’s vocals become a bit tedious when he does his best to sound angry all the time. I actually liked him much better in Pride & Glory. Singer Jonas reminds me a bit of former Spiritual Beggars, Kayser later Spice And The RJ band/Band Of Spice singer Christian “Spice” Sjöstrand. Yes, the songs are really heavy and the album is quite consistent, but there’s still a lot of variation. The production is quite ambient for such a heavy album. The drums sound quite acoustic as a nice contrast to the mostly overtrigged drum sounds of today’s heavy bands, while the guitars really form a brick wall of sound. I will see Absorbing The Pain on the Rock Out Wild festival, and I’m really looking forward to it!
Janne Stark
Label: Rambo Music
Country: Sweden
Year: 2011
Link: www.absorbing thepain.com

MOJOBONE - Crossroad Messages & Tales From The Bone (2CD)

If you were only allowed to buy one CD (and it could be a double pack) I would definitely recommend Mojobone Crossroad Message & Tales From The Bone! This is as phat as it gets! Here you will find the rare 2007 Japan-only release Crossroad Message and the 1999 vinyl only 10” rarity Tales From The Bone. Two records that are essential in the collection of every fan of heavy, low down and dirty riff based seventies influenced groovy hard rock. On top of this you’ll get another eleven tracks, one previously unreleased track and ten demo tracks, some of which were never released. I tell you, this is one hell of a double pack! Founder Per Wiberg was also, up until recently, found in Opeth which may not show here. He is however also part of Spiritual Beggars, which makes more musical sense. Besides Per, Mojobone consists of guitarist Per Mårtensson and drummer Eiron Johansson. On Tales the bass work was handled by Christer Malmesjö, while Crossroads featured Markus Aldén. Mojobone sometimes makes me think of Clutch, but with more variation. I do like Clutch, but Mojobone simply has better songs and a better variety in the song material. Besides being a great keyboard player Per is also a great singer. He has a pretty clean voice for the genre, but I really like that contrast, plus he does let out the occasional roar when it fits. I did have both releases before and I’m of course a big fan of their new album Cowboy Mode. However, as Tales was a vinyl only release, plus some of the tracks we’ve earlier missed out on, such as Burned Out, prove to be in the same high class as the rest of the material – order it immediately. This is one release you don’t want to miss out on!

Janne Stark
Label: Hippodrome Music
Year: 2010
Country: Sweden
Link: www.hippodromemusic.com <http://www.hippodromemusic.com/>

Thalamus - Sign Here For Nothing (MCD)

Thalamus is a band that caught my attention already at their demo stage. I’m also proud to say I had the pleasure of adding a guest solo on a track on the band’s debut album, which is one hell of a debut! I shall also say I have no involvement in this release, meaning I’m not biased, sorta... Anyway, biased or not, this band is the wet dream of any fan of heavy riff oriented 70s hard rock! They remind me a bit of Spiritual Beggard, with the same heaviness, but less stonery. The songs are solid as a rock, and the mix moves mountains. Kjell is also not your average stoner shouter, but has a voice more similar to Beggars first singer, Spice/Kryddan, with a higher pitch than most stonerbands, and of course more melodic. Still, the boy rocks! What I also love about Thalamus is that they don’t take the straight and easy road. Just listen to a song like “Black Day Sunday” with its cool backbeat rhythm and slightly quirky touch. The same goes for the cool but, also rhythmically quirky, “New Age Blues”. Don’t be fooled by the title, it’s no twelve bar standard plodder. This is riff magic of the first degree! Most of the songs are penned by tall boy bass-player Peter Johansson, who has an unerring precision for constructing great and interesting riffs and structures. Besides being a great singer Kjell is also a string-bender of the first order with a Leslie West-infused seventies vibe running down his spine. This platter was mastered by King’s X guitarist Ty Tabor, who did a great job enhancing instead of destroying a great recording. The band is currently in the studio recording a new album, which I’m sure will bring even more walls down! HIGHLY recommended!
Janne Stark
Year: 2010
Label: Scoj Music
Country: Sweden
http://www.myspace.com/thalamusband

MOJOBONE - "Cowboy Mode" (CD)

Holy-one-hell-of-a-fucking-shit! After too long silence Mojobone is back with a vengeance! This brainchild of Opeth/Spiritual Beggars man Per Wiberg has given the world two previous releases, who were killer, but they’ve actually managed to blow these away! This is down and dirty, groovy, riff-heavy seventies influenced hard rock at its best! The title has to be one of the most misleading I’ve heard, though. It would be better off named after the track “Celebrate Armageddon”! I won’t go through every track, but opener “Over The Hills” (not the Gary Moore cover) sets the style and pace right away. Heavy, groovy and with ultra-phat riffing. Besides handling the keyboards, guitars and bass, the multitalented Wiberg also handles the vocals. And, he does it great! “Damaged Gods” continues with some gritty drums, courtesy of Marcus Källström (Stonecake, Sky High) and some wah-wah guitars by Spiritual Beggars colleague Mike Amott. “The Peacemakers” takes off in a cool mid-pace with some clean guitars and an almost poppy verse, with the chorus proving to be one of the coolest, grooviest and most hook-laden grooves in a long time, accompanied by some hand clapping. When was the last time you heard hand clapping on a modern hard rock album? It’s followed by one of the heaviest and doomiest riffs I’ve heard in a long time, “Cowboy Mode”. Simple, but oh so effective! Really cool stripped down verse with a brutally fat and distorted bass supporting the vocals. “The Ones That Got Away” starts with some acoustic guitar, but soon kicks off in a cool up-tempo backbeat tempo. This one has some cool Zeppelin overtones and shows the talent of young blues guitarist Christopher Shoori. “Shadow King” also shows the diversity of Mojobone with its soft, almost proggy, touch. “25 Years” also shows a new side of the band, starting off in an vein close to Black Crowes meets The Soundtrack Of Our Lives (but good…). My preference for album title, “Celebrate Armageddon” is an awesome, heavy and funky track, that builds up in a really cool way. It reminds me a bit of Danish rockers Blindstone, which is a great thing in my book. “End Of Music, End Of Story” starts off with a slow, heavy lonesome, fuzzy guitar riff that sets the pace for this slow, almost doomy rocker. The verse is cool and based on drums, vocals and piano, while the chorus brings in the heavy artillery. The album ends with a cool porch blues version of “Over The Hills” which ends the album in a cool way… and now I did go through all the tracks anyway… Well, go out and get it!
Year: 2010
Labe: Hippodome
Country: Sweden
Link: www.myspace.com/mojobone

OBLIVIOUS - Goons And Masters (CD)

Transubstans Records’ modus operandi is too release bands with a strong seventies vibe. They also showcase the great variety that actually existed in this blessed era, from the psychedelica, the acid rock to the heavy riff oriented hard rock. My favourites are of course the latter. The label’s latest combatants go under the collected name of Oblivious and their debut album is entitled “Goons And Masters”. If you played opener “Ego Boy” not telling me the release year and nationality of the band, I don’t think the answer would have been 2010 and Sweden, but more likely late seventies and USA. Ok, they don’t sound too way off from some of the other current stoner bands, but they do have some really nice personal qualities that I dig. Especially the cool harmony vocals and the great variations of “Red Eye Goon”, at times with a touch of Bigelf. This band really stands its ground in comparison with Swedish colleagues like Dozer, Witchcraft, Graveyard etc. Oblivious are a bit heavier and more riff-driven. I also really dig Iska’s vocals, which is not your average stoner singer, even though he has a pretty low down and gritty touch to his voice. One track that sounds a bit more like your run of the mill up-tempo stoner is “Kickin’ And Screamin”, but it fits well into the rest of the material. “Bring It On Me” reminds me a bit of early Grand Magus, which is great in my book. The variety of the album also shows in tracks like the long and at times folk-influenced “Dead End Night” which spans over a wide variety of styles and sounds. A killer track, indeed!! This track also showcases the bands ability to really crush! I really love the mix of this album! There are hints of vintage Sabbath, touches of Bigelf, a bit of Grand Magus, but the mix becomes quite their own. It’s brutal but still ambient and quite analogue. Just take the guitar sound on “Blind Faith” which would scrape the skin off your face if you stood too close to the speaker. One of my favourite Transubstans releases, I must say!

/Janne Stark

Genre: 70s hard rock/Stoner

Label: Transubstans

Year: 2010

Country: Sweden

Website: http://www.myspace.com/oblivionlkpg