Electric Religions – Duality Of The Universe (CD)

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