GUGUN POWER TRIO - "Far East Blues Experience" (CD)

Indonesia??!!! Holy crap, I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of any rockers from Indonesia! Japan, China, North Korea and even Singapore, but never Indonesia. Well, there’s a first for everything. I must say if I didn’t know I’d never have guessed it. The far east musicians often have a special touch, at least to their vocals. Gugun, however, sounds perfectly westernized. Well, sounding westernized is no proof of quality however. I’m therefore happy to say, Gugun passes my quality approval test flying colours! This is no holds barred, guitar driven, balls out blues rock leaning on the heritage of Hendrix, Vaughan, Gallagher and Bolin. Gugun is a outstanding player with a great tone, outstanding feeling and great technique. I really love his style of playing, even though it may not bring anything new and revolutionary. If you’ve got IT, you don’t need to. He’s got a solid, great pair of backing musicians in bass player Jono and drummer Bowie that really bring the goods. “Turn It On” is a prime example of a power trio working in perfect unison, with a guitarist rocking it out and a rhythm unit filling up every crack and crevice. Awesome stuff indeed! Gugun has really succeeded in bringing up a classic genre and giving it a new spin, writing songs that rejuvenates the legacy of the aforementioned kings. I truly LOVE the way he grooves in songs like “Fallin’ Down”. It’s impossible to sit still on your arse. This rocks, big time! Gugun is also a very fitting singer for this genre. Great bluesy vibe and the perfect roughness. I can’t find any bad tracks whatsoever on this album. It’s solid as a rock from start to finish. It also has a nice blend of various styles within the blues rock territory, from the funky vibe of “Spinnin’ Around Me” and “Emptiness”, to the “Little Wing” style softness of “Holding On”, the Stevie Ray:esque “Move On” to the raw heavy jams of “White Dog Jam”. A highly recommended gem!
Janne Stark
Label: Grooveyard Records (http://www.grooveyardrecords.com/)
Country: USA
Year: 2011

VINCE HAWKINS & COMPANY SLAVE - s/t (CD)

Once there was Frank Marino (well, he still IS for that matter), but not that much has come out of Canada since when it comes to retro oriented, rough edged blues players. That is, until now. Vince Hawkins is a new name for me, but man, can this cat jam or what?! Ok, if you’re looking for slick, modern sounding stuff or toothless bar style blues, f’gged it! Vince Hawkins struts his stuff just like classic players like Frank Marino and Hendrix. He’s got that heavy, dirty, rough edge that I just love. Unpolished, raw and it has the perfect nerve to it. Just listen to a track like “Three Kings” and you’ll see exactly what I mean. In some tracks I could have sworn it was recorded live in the studio, but as Vince handles both guitar, bass and vocals it’s physically impossible. So, lots of kudos for making it sound so alive! He uses four drummers on the album, one better than the other and my favourite, a cut above the others, being the loose and lethal Josh Shaw. Not saying the others are nothing short of great, but Josh’s playing, especially in the breaks of opening rocker “The Gods Made Love” is just awesome and really lifts the song. Great song, too, by the way! The material on the album takes a lot of different turns, which is nice and refreshing. One example is the cool and smooth sounding “Peace On Earth”, while “Medusa’s Head” reminds me of a mix between 70s band Rockicks with a touch of Robin Trower. There is some traditional blues stuff in here as well, where “Cathouse” and “Ashes In My Whiskey” are traditional slow blues with a heavier chorus and “My Ship” also treads quite common blues steps. Good enough stuff, and Vince’s guitars shines brightly through it all. I must however admit, I do prefer songs like killer up-tempo back beat rocker “Big City Blues”. That’s the stuff that really gets my mojo going! And, there’s much more of that on this album! Great stuff!
Janne Stark
Label: Grooveyard Records (http://www.grooveyardrecords.com/)
Country: USA
Year: 2011

JOHNNY HUNKINS - "Talladega Pile-Up" (CD)

Man, this new bunch of Grooveyard releases must be one of the best collection of discs in years! Besides Vince Hawkins, Gugun Power Trio, the Stranger compilation and the never failing Blind Side Blues Band, here’s Jonny Hunkins! Just like Hawkins, Hunkins is a multi instrumentalist, handling bass, guitars, keyboard, harmonica and vocals himself with the additional aid of drummer Ryan Hoyle (Paul Rodgers/Collective Soul). It actually quite hard to believe it is the debut of this American blues rock cat. He sounds like he’s been doing this all his life. Besides being a damn fine guitarist and singer, Johnny is the editor of a hot rod magazine. I swear at times I can hear his guitar being routed through a rumbling V8! Hunkins ain’t your average straight ahead blues rocker, I’d say his style has picked up influences from all over the place. There’s stuff that reminds me a bit of Molly Hatchet, at times I hear some ZZ Top, while some songs draw near the territory of Michael Katon. Take a song like “Floyd County Bootleg” with its detuned heavy riffing, followed by yet another shit-kickin’ down and dirty tractor pulling blues rock crusher in “Over The Edge”. Where he even adds some banjo and harmonica for good measures. Let’s however go back to the beginning with the title track, a fast pace boogie rocker where the verse riff actually reminds me of my own song “Howl For Me”, recorded by BALLS (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ballsrock), not that Johnny has probably ever heard it, but I guess great minds think alike (*wink* *wink*). The album features guest spots from people like Wes Jeans, Chris Duarte and Ryan McGarvey. Well, truth be told, Johnny needs no help whatsoever! Just check out to his phenomenal soloing in “Rock ‘N Roll Party”. The song may be a heads down, no nonsense rocker, but listen to that guitar wail! Holy crap! These cool licks just keep flying out! As I said earlier this is no musically streamlined production, which is proved already in third track “Catch Me”, which is more of a classic hard rocker with a southern touch to it. “Henry Jackson” has some ZZ Top:ish Billy Gibbons flavour to the rhythm guitar work. The production of the album, by Johnny himself, is also worth mentioning. Sounds great! Well, I won’t go into every song, I will just state the fact that there’s not a weak song on this album and I hope this album will also break Hunkins in the world outside of cars. He sure as hell deserves it!
Janne Stark
Label: Grooveyard Records (http://www.grooveyardrecords.com/)
Country: USA
Year: 2011

NYMF - "Nymf" (CD)

Karlshamn based band Nymf, featuring members from label mates Graviators, make their debut in the true old Black Sabbath manner. Opener “The Grave” feeds you riffs that may as well have been signed Tony Iommi. The biggest difference however is lead singer Niklas Sjöberg’s vocal approach. He often reminds me of Mustasch’s Ralf Gyllenhammar and at times of Christian lindersson (Count Raven/St Vitus), except when he, like in “Dark Autumn’s Fire” decides to go into growling mode. Growl is something I’ve learned to accept and in some cases, even like. I shall however admit that, in this case, I could do without it. However as it’s a very limited effort, I can overlook it this time. In some songs, like “Regardless”, I get pretty strong vibes of Pentagram (the Liebling unit), especially when from a guitar perspective. It’s all about simple but highly effective riffs. The mix, made by Olle Blomström, brother of Johan (Blinded Colony, Overdrive, Kaptain Sun etc), is really fat and rich. The guitars build a massive wall of sound, but without diminishing the drums and bass efforts. One track that kinda deviated from the general theme is “Step Aside”, with its cool intro, but also a slightly different type of riffing and a nice arrangement. A killer track indeed. Also “Forsaken” has a softer atmosphere which gives the album some well needed breathing space. I’m happy Nymf tries not to get stuck in the traditional stoner rut. Even though it’s about heavy and doomy riffs that do rock out, like in “Evil Itself”. The album closer initially features with the most doomy riffs of them all, with a slight touch of Black Sabbath’s eponymous epos, and then picks up speed and provides some classic disharmonic Sabbathian chord changes. A nice mix of Blacks Sabbath overtones and Mustasch undertones.
Janne Stark

Country: Sweden

Year: 2010

Label: Transubstans

www.myspace.com/nymfband

GOLDEN RESURRECTION - Glory To My King (CD)

And I thought neoclassical metal was something Yngwie was the only one to still hold on to. Maybe there’s a new wave coming? As Golden Resurrection features former Narnia singer Christian Liljegren and ReinXeed guitarist Tommy Johansson, the choice of style may not be that surprising. Both have been strong keepers and followers of the aforementioned genre for quite some years. Fans of early Narnia will definitely love this album. The style is double bass drum based up-tempo neoclassical melodic heavy metal, in the same style as Narnia once were, actually with a strong touch of Johansson’s more power metal oriented band ReinXeed. Great melodies, well arranged songs and a strong melodic feel that carries the songs in a highly favourable way. I also have to say Christian probably does one of his best vocal works to date. If Calle Grimmark was the six string torch bearer or Narnia, young prodigy Johansson keeps on carrying that torch with pride and great technical skills. He does some really impressive solo work and his technique is flawless. Of course drummer Rickard Gustavsson, bass player Stefan Käck and keyboard player Olov Andersson (Grand Stand) give a strong and highly important foundation that the songs rest upon. I shall also add that this is by no means any streamlined shredder-plodding album. The variation is definitely there, and one of my favourite moments is the heavy, riff oriented and melodic “Never Look Back”, with a chorus that is closer to AOR than metal. On the other hand “Golden Flames” or the intro of “The Final Day” could have been penned by Mr Malmsteen himself. A highly enjoyable album that is a must for fans of melodic power metal and neo classical metal.
Janne Stark

Year: 2010

Label: Liljegren Records

Country: Sweden

www.myspace.com/goldenresurrection

John Waite - Rough & Tumble (CD)

Holy crap!! I’ve been a fan of John Waite ever since I heard The Babys and “Looking For Love” on Swedish radio back in the seventies! I’ve enjoyed most of his solo stuff, too, especially the rockier stuff like “Ignition” and “Rovers Return”. I also had the great pleasure of seeing Mr Waite live in Augsburg, Germany not that long ago and man, he still rocked! Great backing band, too! So, how’s he doing on record? Well, his new album starts off with one nice firecracker of a song, the title track. My first impression is I love the naked, rough, rocking sound. A guitar, a bass, a set of drums, some occasional keyboards and the great voice of Mr W. No unnecessary overdubs, no annoying over-Americanized reverb. This sounds like a pure melodic rock album made with love and honesty. “Shadows Of Love” is another melodic rocker that takes us back to Waite in his best form.

Don’t be fooled by the title of the next track - “Evil”. It’s not the old seventies song and it’s no detuned heavy rocker. Here’s a cool melodic rocker, maybe not as hard hitting as the openers, but still very enjoyable indeed. What really makes it work is that John Waite still possesses THE voice! Next up is a classic Waite-sounding ballad, ornamented with some acoustic guitar and piano. It’s of course hard to exceed tracks like “Missing You” or “In Dreams”, but he does try and this one goes a long way. This time John is using the guitar talents of Luis Maldonado and Kyle Cook (Matchbox Twenty). The latter also co-wrote a bunch of the tracks. “Skyward” is another semi-ballad following in the same vein as the stuff Waite produced on albums like “Temple Bar”.

The cover of Tina Turner’s “Sweet Rhode Island Red” opens up sounding like mid 90s ZZ Top with dirty finger-picking phat guitars and some shuffle-style snare drumming making this an outstanding full throttle bluesy shuffle rocker. Waite sings his heart out, as usual, no holds barred! “Love’s Going Out Of Style” is a mid-pace semi-soft track with almost reggaeish guitars and a cool Nashville sounding chorus. Great bluesy solo from Kyle. There’s even some saxophones in the chorus, but very much in the background. I hate sax, but for some reason they do work well here. “Better Off Gone” kicks off with a nice guitar riff and continues in a melodic upper mid-tempo mode with the classic Waite tone all over it. It has a cool car driving mode to it, made for a top down ride, full on sunshine and sunglasses on! Next up is “Further The Sky” which is a really cool bluesy ballad with some great guitar playing from Shayne Fontayne. Again I have to praise the earthy, unpolished production giving you the feeling of the band being in the same room as yourself. I truly love that!

“Peace Of Mind “ is a track that sticks out a bit with its spoken verse. Not bad, but not really at par with the other tracks. On the other hand I truly LOVE John’s new version of one of my old favourites “Mr. Wonderful” from the “Ignition” album. Luis Maldonado does a great work on guitar giving it a dirty, bluesy live-feel. This version really rocks! Sometimes you shouldn’t mess with old classics, but this time I won’t complain, at all! Love this version! The second bonus track, “Hanging Tree”, is a previously unreleased track recorded for the sound track of the movie “Me And Will”. A great soft acoustic ballad with John singing as soulful as only he can do. There is no doubt, John Waite has again exceeded himself! I’m prepared to rate this album as one of his best releases ever, and for me “Ignition” is way up there!

9/10

Janne Stark

Year: 2010

Country: UK/USA

Label: Frontiers

www.johnwaite.com

MANGROVE - A Distant Dream Of Tomorrow (CD)

Transubstans Records have a nice tendency of picking up all the great retro bands of our small but fruitful country. Mangrove made their debut in 2009 with “Endless Skies”, a great debut indeed. The follow-up does not disappoint, on the contrary. “A Distant Dream If Tomorrow” continues where the debut left off. Heavy riffs, great melodic vocals, great musicians and a more classic seventies hard rock sound than stoner. The dead heavy riff in “Never Again” reminds me a bit of bands like vintage Sabbath with a touch of Sir Lord Baltimore. They even have the Black Sabbathian simultaneous dual guitar solo, one in each channel. You don’t hear that too much these days. In the true Sabbath/Zeppelin manner they also mix it up with some nice mid tempo balladry in tracks like “I’ve Been Seen Upon The Sun”. I think I said this in my review of the debut, but I’ll say it again, singer Kataja reminds me quite a lot of Magnus Ekwall of The Quill, which is top notch in my book. They do turn a bit more stoner in some tracks, such as “Mean Woman Blues”, but they still keep their high standard. I also really like the earthy, analogue sounding mix of the album. It’s an album where it actually does happen something when you turn it up! It hasn’t been deviously destroyed in some malicious mastering process where compressors and limiters make everything sound louder than everything else. I hear dynamics, something that unfortunately a lot of albums of today lack. This is a great sounding power trio with all individuals making a serious musical imprint in each and every song. Great stuff indeed!

Janne Stark

Label: Transubstans

Year: 2010

Country: Sweden

www.myspace.com/mangrovesweden

Hasse Fröberg & Music Companion - Future Past (CD)

Former Spellbound, current Flower Kings singer Hasse Fröberg has now compiled all his musical ideas into a masterful musical melting pot. He actually has invited some former Spellbound colleagues to accompany him, such as bass player Thomsson and drummer Ola Strandberg. Besides these fellas there are ace guitarist Anton Lindsjö and keyboard player Kjell Haraldsson. If you’re expecting the good old melodic 80s metal of Spellbound, forget it. If you’re however a latter day fan of Hasse’s where his vocal performance in The Flower Kings is of your liking, you should definitely check this out. HFMC is a highly progressive/symphonic band in the vein of The Flower Kings, but actually with a more melodic edge, still very heavy at times though. There are actually even hints of Saga in places. In the later part of “Fallen Empire” for example, where the chorus has more of an AOR/pomp-touch. I also hear influences of Yes and Genesis in the subsequent “Song For July”. Hasse feels a bit more relaxed and free vocally compared to The Flower Kings, more akin to what he did in Spellbound, but with a more mature touch. The songs are very well constructed and the arrangements are killer. A song like 14 minute “Piece Of The Sky” NEVER gets boring, on the contrary, it keeps surprising you all the time. With Queen-like precision the song slithers seamlessly from poppy sing-along parts, though heavy guitar riffs to proggy parts. These are some great musicians, too, I must say! Lindsjö is one hell of a guitar player that at times shows quite a jazzy side to his playing, which gives the songs yet another dimension. “Above” is yet another killer track which also moves through several musical dimensions, starting out with a dead heavy riff that changes into a subtle Pink Floydish landscape with Lindsjö sounding like he was breast fed with Gilmour’s smooth guitar melodies. This is nothing short of awesome! No offence to The Flower Kings, but I personally like this way more! For some reason I kept thinking about the golden oldie “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” when I listen to “Everyday”. Never mind, it’s probably just my ears. “The Ultimate Thrill” has to be my absolute favourite track, though. This is HEAVY rock!! Old school classic heavy rock with concrete heavy guitars á la carte! Awesome, indeed!

Janne Stark
Year: 2010
Label: Reingold Music
Country: Sweden
http://www.hassefroberg.com/
http://www.myspace.com/hassefrobergandthemusicalcompanion

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