Super Vintage – Destiny (CD)

Our favorite Greek guitarist/singer Stavros Papadopoulos is at it again! How many hours does this guy have in a day me wonder? Now it’s time for a new Super Vintage album, Stavros heavy bluesy, 70s influenced power unit. He kicks off with southern tinged “Rock N’ Roll Saviors” and continues with a cool Bad Company vibe in “Brotherhood Of Blues”. The tracks ends with an extended, cool bluesy solo. “Edge of Time” continues in the southern vibe, actually combining the brit bluesy Bad Company vibe with a touch of vintage Lynyrd Skynyrd and a cool slide guitar to top it off. “Naked Tree” keeps it up in the same vibe, while “Streets Of This Town” has a sleazy, heavy edge to it. “Everything You Wanted” picks up the southern up-tempo vibe. The album finally ends with the slow acoustic “Destiny”, a classic southern rock ballad. What can I say? Stavros hasn’t made me disappointed before, and he didn’t this time either. A great bluesy, southern rock album, from Greece of all places!  

Janne Stark

Country: Greece

Year: 2018

Label: Grooveyard Records

Head Honchos - Bring It On Home (CD)

Already reading the band name and the title kinda made me think this could be southern influenced, shit kickin’ hard rock. The CD starts off with ”Not For Me” and I wasn’t that far off target. It’s definitely shit kickin’ hard rock, but I guess it’s more bluesy than southern. ”Old And Tired” continues in a cool swing funk heavy blues vibe, actually with a touch of Stevie Salas, with is great in my book. Nice phat groove! ”Work” kicks up the tempo a notch. Slide guitar, chunky Hammond organ and a cook funky groove. Great energetic vocals and killer guitar licks. In ”Come Strong” they do give it a southern rock touch, but it also has a straight ahead blues rock vibe to it. It’s a track that has ”dance” written all over it. ”Next To You” kicks it off with a cool drum groove and some slide guitar. One of my favorites is the super grooving ”Whiskey Devil” and the band’s kick ass version of ”Going Down”. A really cool, groove oriented, swinging blues rock album with a southern touch.

Janne Stark

Year: 2018

Country: USA

Label: Grooveyard Records

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