I found Swedish guitarist Peter Martinsson when googling his old 70s/80s
band Plebb. I found Peter had not only continued playing guitar, but also
become one hell of a player! Now his first solo album has finally hit the
streets. What you find here is an outstanding collection of instrumental guitar
music, ranging from heavy rock to blues to folky rock to countryish playing.
Peter is an outstanding, versatile guitarist, who at times remind me of the
outstanding Thomas Larsson. Songs like Groove In My Backyard draws a bit
towards vintage Joe Satriani, while Shoot makes me think of Greg Koch wacky
blues rock. Made It is a cool melodic thing with a slight folky touch. I can’t
continue without mentioning Peter’s outstanding musicians, bassist Per-Martin
Pettersson and drummer Ulf Becker, who really know how to groove. In J.M.H
(which I guess stands for James Marshall Hendrix) he does show some Hendrixy
overtones, but I actually come to think more of Stevie Ray Vaughan, who of
course was influenced by J.M.H. Besides playing some really mean licks and
being a crazy good player, Peter can also write great songs. These are no
guitar wanking backgrounds, but actually great songs with melodies that can
hold their own and riffs that really rock! Speaking of Greg Koch, the solo in
Walk With Me reminds me a bit of his style in the way he explores scales that
really raises your eyebrow. I love it when people push it outside the box and
make it sound crazy and cool. Guitar State Of Mind is true guitar mojo of the
highest order! Get it!
Janne Stark
Country: Sweden
Year: 2012
Label: Grooveyard Records
Badge is the perfect psycho-blues-power-trio-from-Hell. Raunchy,
explosive, dirty, mean and raw to the bone. The band consists of
guitarist/singer Matti Norlin (Ninja, Wizard), bassist Gustaf Hielm (Meshuggah,
Pain Of Salvation, Charta 77) and drummer Fredrik Haake (Meldrum, God Is My
Co-Pilot). I’m not sure what bands to compare them to, as I simply can’t find
any. Basically Badge plays hard edged, wild-eyed blues with Norlin playing the
shit out of his acoustic guitar or dobro, while Haake bangs the shit out of his
drum kit. I think this band would actually be too heavy if you added distortion
as well. It’s really cool that a trio playing acoustic instruments can make it
sound this heavy. Calculated Moves is dangerously close to psychobilly with its
up-tempo craziness with Norlin going slide crazy and Haake going totally wild
with Hielm is doing an excellent job backing them up. It’s actually totally
impossible to sit still listening to this musical eruption. Bloody great stuff!
The band has an album finished and I sure hope they will get it out. This needs
to be heard!
Janne Stark
Label: None
Year: 2012
Country: Sweden
Alloy is a new Swedish combatant on the battle grounds of classic heavy
metal. To quote themselves they are on a path frequently trodden. Alloy plays
classic sounding eighties heavy metal, showing quite obvious traces of Iron
Maiden and Manowar, but also US metal band Brocas Helm. They place themselves alongside
newcomers like Enforcer, Steelwings, Helvetets Port and Evilseve, and they do
pretty well. There are some flaws here and there, but nothing major. The songs
have all the necessary elements with good vocals, a great guitarist and a solid
rhythm section. The recording is liberatingly free of autotune and trigged
drums, and relies on a classic analogue sound. The vocals are often the band’s
Achilles’ heel, and Jonas Edström may not be any Bruce Dickinson, but he does a
really good job. The songs are also good and solid with my favourite being the
slightly heavier Sea Of Lies with its of gloomy riffing. A really good start,
boys!
Janne Stark
Country: Sweden
Label: none (demo-CDR)
Corroded is one helluva force to be reckoned with. I’ve always liked their records, but after seeing them live the feeling was enhanced. This band is no studio product. They deliver, and they deliver with confidence and power. Corroded are for real! State Of Disgrace proves it even more. Twelve songs, twelve statements, twelve melodic hard rocking songs that kick ass. From up-tempo rockers like I Will Not, to heavy crunchy, yet melodic numbers such as I Am God, the beautiful balladry of Beautiful Revolution, to the powerful Pantera:iash riffing in Believe In Me. Throw Pantera, Shinedown and Sevendust in a blender and add some Swedish originality, and you have Corroded. A great powerful album that’s just another proof of this band’s greatness. A killer album indeed!
Janne Stark
Label: NineTone
Year: 2012
Country: Sweden
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Ok, now I’m
quite far outside my musical comfort zone. I’m a metal head, hard rocker,
thrash fan, and generally don’t listen to westcoast or pop. However I do have a
soft spot for a few artists, one being Brett Walker, which is sort of where this one lands. Even though Torben Schmidt used to
sing in Danish AOR band Skagerack, Long Story Short could be compared to the
stuff Joey Tempest did when Europe folded (or took a break), or, Brett Walker. This is very
poppy, very melodic, but I actually really like this! Torben manages to keep it
on the right side of the slimy wimp-fence. First and foremost, he’s a great
singer, reminding me a bit of Alien’s Jim Jidhed, with a very pleasant voice
that doesn’t sound irritatingly buttery. He also adds some rock attitude to the
brew. Sure, tracks like All Is Said could probably make it well into the
American country rock chart, but when Mattias Ia Eklund adds his guitar to it
all, it takes a different turn. Luckily Torben hasn’t fallen into the trap Mark
Spiro fell into on his last album, using programmed drums and f***ing auto tune
overload. Long Story Short sounds alive and nicely dynamic in its sound and
approach. Real musicians playing – check. No audible autotune – check. He’s
also using musicians not immediately intimately associated to this genre, such as
Mattias Ia Eklund, Chritsian Alsing and Björn Fryklund. I also love the
solos in It’s The Fire by Simon Rabenhöj. Great tone and firey style. It took
some soul searching to admit for a narrow minded rocker like myself, but here
it is - I actually, honestly, really like and enjoy the album! Ok, there are a
few tracks that are a bit too cheesy even for me, like You (one of the the only
two with some programming involved) and.., well, I guess it’s actually the only
one. Not my style in general, but I must say this was a nice surprise.
Janne Stark
Label: Thunderstruck
Country: Denmark
Year: 2012
Wow, Tony Clarkin, Bob Catley, Mark Stanway and their crew are definitely back with a vengeance. I was a big fan of the band’s early albums like Kingdom Of Madness, II and Marauder. Great stuff indeed, still is. I don’t think the band ever raised the bar over these albums, even though Vigilante and On A Storyteller’s Night are good efforts. Later day’s Magnum has also kept a pretty decent level of quality even though I’ve rarely revisited the newer albums that often. Well, I’m happy to say On The 13th Day proves this band can still surprise me. The album kicks off with heavy hitter All The Dreamers showing a glance of older days, but with a more updated and quite heavy sound. Blood Red Laughter continues in the same vein and Bob Catley actually sings better than ever. No sign of weakness or weariness. The man can still SING! The mix is full, fat and solid, reminding me a bit of the latest Uriah Heep album. The best part of it all, the songs are really great memorable pieces with nice hooks and ballsy riffs. Blood Red Laughter is a song that will pop up in my iPod quite often I feel. The same goes for the title track. Well, the same actually goes for the major part of the album. Dance Of The Black Tattoo has some of the chunkiest and heaviest guitars I’ve heard from the band in a long time, plus a chorus that sticks. Another killer track. There are however a few songs that may not be in the top league, such as So Let It Rain (a bit too pop for comfort) and… hmm… well, I guess that’s the only one, and it’s not even bad, just a cut below the rest. So, conclusion, this is without doubt the best album Magnum has produced since their heydays! Congrats, boys!
Janne Stark
Country: UK
Label: Steamhammer/SPV
Year: 2012
Skull Parade is a new and pretty exciting four-piece from the Gothenburg area. Bassist Magnus Lind has previously played in bands like Treasure Land and Calilio. Skull Parade plays heavy, grinding groove metal drawing some influences from various places and managing to blend it all together into a really fresh sounding musical cocktail (closer to strong merciless moonshine than any fine bar umbrella crap). I think I’d label the band modern retro, as they succeed in incorporating good old heavy riff rock into their quite modern sounding crunchy metal. Anell has a cool raspy voice, not sounding like anyone else, but still with hints of Ralf Gyllenhammar, Zakk Wylde and even some Ronnie Dio. I don’t remember him sounding this great in Art Rebellion (a much more melodic band). The band’s first EP features four songs, plus a radio edit of I Rise For No One, a song that reminds me a bit of Corroded, which ain’t a bad thing. All four songs are really great and my only complaint would be that there should be more of them. Looking forwards to that, I am!
Janne Stark
Label: private
Year: 2012
Country: Sweden
