Miss Willis – Snakes, Fakes & A Holy Cow (MCDr 5tr)

Swedish retro hard rockers Miss Willis started out as Twilight Zone back in 1986, reformed as Miss Willis Flowerchild and released their first demo under this name already back in 1993. In 2008 they released their first album, “Alpha Male”, under the new shortened name. An outstanding release, indeed! The follow-up EP, “Rewolf” was released in 2010 and in 2015 the album “Coming Home” saw the light of day. This, their latest release, is another 5 track EP, a pro-printed CDR, I should add. It kicks off with a siren and bursts into a kick ass up-tempo guitar-based riff rocker. Promising, to say the least! “When The Devil Gets Old” continues in the upper mid-tempo region with a classic hard rock touch. A hint of AC/DC with a more Black Crowes sounding chorus. “Playground” reminds me a bit of UFO’s “Natural Thing” or Moxy’s “Moonrider” in the main riff. An outstanding hard rocker, indeed! “Först till kvarn” (with vocals in Swedish, as you may suspect) draws more on the early 70s vein, here with the addition of a Hammond organ, something they used quite a lot more on “Coming Home”. This one reminds me a bit of the band Blood From The Sun or Swedish colleagues Thalamus. This is actually my favorite track from this new effort. Uffe’s vocals sort of take on a totally different tone when he sings in his native tongue. The EP finished off with “Hole In The Ground”, which initially and ironically made me think of “Hole In The Sky” (Black Sabbath). It does sound a bit like vintage Uriah Heep meets Black Sabbath. A kick-ass track. A great band that never disappoints! Looking forward to the new full-length!

Janne Stark

Country: Sweden

Year: 2018

Label: self-released

Gudars Skymning – V (CD)

Swedish rockers Gudars Skymning (Twilight of Gods, and also a Swedish equivalent of “Oh dear!”) have now released their fifth slab of seventies infused hard rock sung in their native tongue. If you’re into bands like Abramis Brama and Magnolia, this is without doubt right up your alley. After the instrumental heavy folsky “Orloks Boning” the band crushes on with the powerful riffster “Mars Makalös”. “Rakt ut I mörkret (olycksfågel del II)” continues with some heavy shuffle, leading into the up/mid-tempo chugging ”Allman” featuring Micke “Mojo” Nilsson on additional vocals and lead guitar. “Hjärtats ödemark” continues with some heavy riffing, a bit like blending Budgie, Black Sabbath and November. The verse and chorus of “Vid vansinnets berg” are almost a bit Sabbath doomy in the approach, while the bridge takes it into a slightly psychedelic landscape. “Soppan” starts out as a shuffle oriented number, but takes a turn into a doomy territory in the verse. What makes Gudars Skymning sound a bit different is Kenny-Oswald Dufvenberg’s slightly different melodic approach, which makes it quite unique. Even though the band has evolved a bit by each record, they haven’t strayed away from their original formula. This band just keep on delivering album after album, all having that high class and quality! Kick ass stuff!

Janne Stark

Label: Transubstans

Year: 2017

Country: Sweden

The Quill - Born From Fire (CD)

Swedish retro rockers The Quill have gone through various styles and line-ups. Now they have returned bringing back singer Magnus Ekwall, flanked by guitarist Christian Carlsson, bass player Roger Nilsson and drummer Jolle Atlagic. The new effort kicks off with Stone Believer and immediately Black Sabbath and in particular Zero The Hero comes to mind. No, it's not plagiarism, only very similar in feel. This is my favorite Quill line-up and they do not disappoint! Snake Charmer Woman proves the opener was no fluke. This one kicks it up a few notches in speed, but the heaviness prevails. Ghosthorse is more Sabbath than Sabbath. It's a track I think Iommi would wish he wrote today! What a killer!! Keep It Together takes it down a notch, starting off with naked vocals and Univibe-drenched guitar. It then leads us into Sabbath's Snowblind territory. There's not a weak track on the entire album, the mix is fat, full and fucking crushing, the band sounds better than ever and this is one kick-ass release you should not miss out on! 
Janne Stark

Label: Metalville
Country: Sweden
Year: 2017