Swedish
guitar wiz Steven Kautzky Andersson released his first solo album, “Gipsy Power”,
in 1994. A second outing, “Missa Magica”, saw the light of day four years
later. The albums had a strong hint of the far east and after this he started
exploring this type of music even further, which was quite evident in his
project Iubar. In 2000 I received a demo with his new band Electric Religions and
in 2014 the first official EP saw the light of day. The direction was now
completely different. Heavy and riff oriented! Yep, my favorite words. The
band’s first full length album “Duality Of The Universe” starts off with a 48
second instrumental intro entitled “For The Love of Jimi Hendrix”. Now we’re
talking! “Good Fortune” and “Terracotta” continue in an almost doomy vein. The
band is fronted by female singer Neili Bjerring. Her vocals in combination with
the riffing actually reminds me quite a lot of the early stuff by 70s hard rockers
Resurrection Band, which is a good thing in my book! “Lee Chao Long” is another
cool number, sounding quite oriental and with a touch of early Rainbow at
times. “1000 Battles” continues the dark and doomy vein with a really brutal
chorus and a cool oriental sounding guitar solo. “Horses Tale” is a powerful
big ballad, also with a touch of vintage Rainbow. “Yangtze River” is the
darkest and heaviest I’ve heard from this band so far, very Candlemass meets
Sabbath with Neili’s vocals giving it a touch of Avatarium. Sitar playing doom
riffs? Yepp, check out the track “Last Emperor” for this interesting
combination. I must say, I’m positively surprised by the sheer brutal heaviness
of this album, and the combination between Steven’s fat riffs and killer guitar
playing and Neili’s cool and melodic, yet slightly raspy voice. Think Avatarium
and add an oriental flare to it. If that sounds appealing – check out Electric
Religions! I highly recommend it!
Janne Stark
Label:
Comedia
Year: 2016
Country:
Sweden
