NOCTURNAL ALLIANCE - The 3rd Phase Of Destruction (CD)

Nocturnal Alliance was formed in 2004 by former Twilight/Beyond Twilight members Micke Därth and Henrik Johansson. Before this Därth also recorded with the band Detest. Prior to this release Nocturnal Alliance has released a couple of demos, which I haven’t heard (unfortunately). This was however a nice surprise. The band has borrowed former Axia/Leviticus singer Peo Pettersson, a singer/guitarist who has released some solo stuff in a far more poppy AOR vein. Here he gets a chance to show his metal edge, which he should do more often. There are also guest appearances from Janne Ström (Slug) and Linus Abrahamsson (Mister Kite/The Codex).
“The 3rd Phase Of Destruction” is a nice power pack of progressive metal in the vein of bands like Shadow Gallery or a more light weight (technically, that is) Symphony X. It may not be filled with shredding guitar solos, but the ones that are there, they rock! The songs are very well-arrangements and keeps the listener interested all the way through. Nice changes of pace and rhythms, without being over-proggy. It’s on the other hand quite dramatic and almost Wagnerian in the approach at times, which makes me think a bit about the long lost Psychotic Waltz at times. The second last track is the wonderful prog-ballad “With” with female guest vocals by Michelle (no last name, I’m afraid), only overshadowed by the even better final track “How I’m Dead”, another very dramatic ballad that builds up to a crescendo. My only complaint would be the production which lacks a bit of ambience and power. It’s not bad, by any means, but I can only imagine what this would sound like in the hands of someone like Neil Kernon. Anyway, a great CD well worth investing in for fans of melodic and progressive high class metal.
Janne Stark
Year: 2009
Label: Private
Country: Sweden
Link: www.myspace.com/nocturnalalliancesweden

SIDEBURN - The Demon Dance (CD)

Sideburn are no nubes, but even if they were formed already 13 years ago, this is only their third album. They even put Def Leppard to shame. Well, there ends that comparison however. This Stockholm based trio picks their influences from the classic hard rock and bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. I did like Sideburn’s earlier albums, but I felt they sounded more like the average Swedish stoner band. Now I feel something has happened. Sure, there are strong vibes of colleagues like Spiritual Beggars and The Quill, but if you listen to the album’s third track “Song For Hope” influences from the more varied and solemn seventies shine through. This track feels more akin to Bigelf, but with a touch of the old symphonic bands. Here are soft, lengthy melodic parts that float like on clouds, to suddenly be interrupted by lead-coated riffs and Morgan Zoceks killer guitar solos. He balances his style between technique and blues, with a pretty big vibrato that owes a lot to Yngwie Malmsteen. The subsequent track “Fallen Sun” opens with nice guitar picking and a bass solo by Martin Karlsson, this one also with a nice symphonic touch mixed with heavy riffing. Martin also plays keyboards, which gives the album a new and well needed dimension. The band should however attract classic stoner fans, particularly in the crusher “Dyin’ Day”, where Jani Kataja sounds like a long lost cousin of The Quill’s singer Magnus Ekwall. This also sets him apart from most of the, sometimes a bit boring, traditional stoner howlers. Jani has a clear and pure voice, with a nice dose of white blues. I really like the fact that Sideburn resist the temptation to just grind, but instead take their time to soften the distortion a bit and use dynamics, like in heavy bluesy “Shining”. It has a nice semi-fat neck pick-up Les Paul on the rhythm chart. Once he lets it rip he just ups the volume and lets the natural power speak, instead of adding a lot of fuzz. This gives it a lot of dynamics, which is something I often lack today. Dynamics is also the word of honour in “Rainy Day” with its acoustic guitar and dry up-front vocals. When a cool electric guitar is added in the background and the drummer just adds some cool tom-tom playing, these guys prove they know what it’s all about. Furthermore the song keeps on building up to transform into a, slightly surprising, flamenco:ish theme which takes the song into a new direction. The relaxed “Shapes” with its almost eight minutes should give fans of Led Zeppelin value for money. I won’t say more, just – I recommend this one strongly!
Janne Stark

Year: 2010

Label: Transubstans

Country: Sweden

Link: www.myspace.com/sideburnsweden

MOJOBONE - "Cowboy Mode" (CD)

Holy-one-hell-of-a-fucking-shit! After too long silence Mojobone is back with a vengeance! This brainchild of Opeth/Spiritual Beggars man Per Wiberg has given the world two previous releases, who were killer, but they’ve actually managed to blow these away! This is down and dirty, groovy, riff-heavy seventies influenced hard rock at its best! The title has to be one of the most misleading I’ve heard, though. It would be better off named after the track “Celebrate Armageddon”! I won’t go through every track, but opener “Over The Hills” (not the Gary Moore cover) sets the style and pace right away. Heavy, groovy and with ultra-phat riffing. Besides handling the keyboards, guitars and bass, the multitalented Wiberg also handles the vocals. And, he does it great! “Damaged Gods” continues with some gritty drums, courtesy of Marcus Källström (Stonecake, Sky High) and some wah-wah guitars by Spiritual Beggars colleague Mike Amott. “The Peacemakers” takes off in a cool mid-pace with some clean guitars and an almost poppy verse, with the chorus proving to be one of the coolest, grooviest and most hook-laden grooves in a long time, accompanied by some hand clapping. When was the last time you heard hand clapping on a modern hard rock album? It’s followed by one of the heaviest and doomiest riffs I’ve heard in a long time, “Cowboy Mode”. Simple, but oh so effective! Really cool stripped down verse with a brutally fat and distorted bass supporting the vocals. “The Ones That Got Away” starts with some acoustic guitar, but soon kicks off in a cool up-tempo backbeat tempo. This one has some cool Zeppelin overtones and shows the talent of young blues guitarist Christopher Shoori. “Shadow King” also shows the diversity of Mojobone with its soft, almost proggy, touch. “25 Years” also shows a new side of the band, starting off in an vein close to Black Crowes meets The Soundtrack Of Our Lives (but good…). My preference for album title, “Celebrate Armageddon” is an awesome, heavy and funky track, that builds up in a really cool way. It reminds me a bit of Danish rockers Blindstone, which is a great thing in my book. “End Of Music, End Of Story” starts off with a slow, heavy lonesome, fuzzy guitar riff that sets the pace for this slow, almost doomy rocker. The verse is cool and based on drums, vocals and piano, while the chorus brings in the heavy artillery. The album ends with a cool porch blues version of “Over The Hills” which ends the album in a cool way… and now I did go through all the tracks anyway… Well, go out and get it!
Year: 2010
Labe: Hippodome
Country: Sweden
Link: www.myspace.com/mojobone

JACK IN THE BOX - "Stigma MMX" (2CD)

Before I start this review I must point out that this album, in its original version, is in the top section of my favourite albums, EVER! Now, first off I will tell you that my top section does not consist of the usual suspects like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath or Deep Purple. I’m a bit quirkier than that (well, at least not your run of the mill standard hard rock/metal fan). It’s up there with the likes of King’s X’s “Gretchen Goes To Nebraska”, Diamond REO’s “Dirty Diamonds”, Sir Lord Baltimore’s “Kingdom Come” and Captain Beyond’s self-titled debut. If we start with the phenomenal mix by Ken Ingwersen, it’s nothing short of pure magic. Heavy, yet with a lot of air. Outstanding bass sound, combined with killer drums and a guitar sound that breaks down walls. Just take a song like the outstandingly heavy “Butterfly”. That riff surpasses anything Black Sabbath has ever written in terms of heavy riffs! (Yes, I know I just committed a blasphemy, but that’s how I feel, can’t help it). Another thing that is so cool and a bit of the band’s trade mark, is the way they build up a killer riff, just to leave off the bass continuing with the riff and the guitars go into totally different places, just to come back and tip another bunch of cows over. On top of all you have the exquisite soulful voice of Eric Si. This is a perfect combination of killer musicians, a perfectly fitting singer, top notch production and of course, last but not least, song material so close to perfection it’s probably the only album I would ever need on a desert island. The album opens up, instantly proving this is a band you just don’t put in a box (despite the name). “In2 Thousand Pieces” opens with atonal guitar, like a “Purple Haze” of the 90’s, but evolves into a groovy, driving track with a heavy and chunky riff that takes the songs placed you wouldn’t expect. The bass going its own way, leaving the guitars to riff on their own. Little things here and they, like a slightly delayed beat, a sudden break, things that makes the song, and the album for that matter, so much more interesting to listen to. I have a tendency to grow tired of parts of albums, such as the ballads. A lot of bands just can't write interesting ballads. However this band manages to keep my attention. The title track is a very soft flowing track, with a really cool combination of soft plucking guitars, a heavy driving bass and Frode Lamöy’s repetitive but very cool drum pattern. “Lilac Road” is another very different style ballad, more like a melodic poem over a guitar pattern. Also here the production gives the song so many new dimensions. Just listen in your headphones and you’ll hear all the little details such as chanting Indians. The last ballad type song is the album closer “Cycle”, which is also far from your standard ballad, but starts out with acoustic guitar, heavy bass and cool drums, with a heavy, brutal slightly atonal passage which keeps your ears on your toes. Then of course we have the obvious hits, also not hits in the sense of radio friendly, poppy sing-alongs. These are songs that get stuck in your brain without being annoying. They are just so friggin’ great! “French Fries For Breakfast” (you just gotta love that title!), “Yellow” (with it’s …interesting… lyrics), the driving, quirky and outstanding “In Tune” and of course the groovy “Challenge Chamber Champagne”. I also have to mention the killer heavy “Not Yet” where Eric goes deep in his vocal register and so do the riffs. I could go on and describe every song on this album, because they all are different with their own flare, but still the album is an ALBUM with a common thread, a start and a goal and everything inbetween is flawless. After listening to this new re-master, I can just conclude this one is like a very fine and very expensive wine that just gets better with age. The advantage compared to the wine is that this one you can enjoy again, and again, and again. It’s also much cheaper and you don’t get a hangover. Fuck the wine, get “Stigma”!

What about the bonus CD, then? Well, now here’s another reason that you MUST have this album! It starts off with a really cool demo version of "Cycle", called “Psychle”, quite different from the album. It’s followed by the unreleased track “Snow White”, a quite suggestive and really cool rocker in the same vein as the album, just a different mix. Should definitely have made it on to the album when it comes to quality! Next up is a really cool quirky rocker called “No Place Like Home”. It’s definitely got the Jack magic, but it’s a bit different in its approach and I can see why it didn’t make it to the album. Not because of less quality, but it’s a bit different. Love it, though! “Blackout Of You”, a totally beautiful ballad with quite familiar lyrics. Awesome! Next up is a demo version of “Sister”, which sounds very different from the album, and here the King’s X influences really shine through. Love the album version, but I would have bought this one, too. Really nice tight guitar sound with Ty Tabor written all over it! The demo version of “French Fries For Breakfast” follows in the same vein, and this one is even further away from the album version. Same here, love the album version, but I would have settled for this one not knowing the other one. Cool clean funky verse guitars on this one. Then we have the five tracks from the rare “Rockjumping” EP. I liked the EP, but LOVE the album (as you may have gathered…). However, these songs really came to live again after seeing the band live. It’s like I saw the big picture. The re-mastering hasn’t hurt it at all. It’s more vibrant (as Gordon Ramsey would’ve put it). Go out and get some Stigma!
Janne Stark

Country: Norway
Label: Boxreborn (private)
Year: 2010
Link: http://www.boxreborn.com/

Some short reviews

Here's some short comments on some new releases. Longer reviews will follow.

THUNDERSTONE - "Dirt Metal" (SPV) - Great new album from this Finnish unit, reinforced with former Sanity/At Vance singer Rick Altzi. In my opinion their best album to date. Heavy and powerful metal!

STORMZONE - "Death Dealer" (SPV) - I've seen this Irish bunch of rockers a couple of times and they always deliver live. The new album has been quite a while in the making, but now it's finally here and it was worth waiting for. Classic melodic metal with great vocals from Harv Harbinson and great guitar work!

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE - "Fever" (Sony Music) - It took me a while to actually even check this band out as I wrote them off as "kiss-ass-nu-metal-popsters". Wrong was I. If you're into bands like Avenged Sevenfold, this should not be missed. Their previous album "Shoot Aim Kill" was very good, but this one really kicks ass! A bit heavier. Great guitarwork and SOLOS, yes indeed!

SCORPIONS - "Sting In The Tail" (Sony Music) - I can actually see why they leave off with this album. It's the best they have produced since their haydays. "Unbreakable" was a good step on the way, but here you get the full monty. This is the Scorps back in their best 80s suite. Great stuff!

Y&T - "Facebreaker" (Frontiers) - OK, my hopes may have been set a little bit too high. It's good, it is, but it does leave me a bit empty. There are some killer tracks here, but there are also some songs that I don't remember even after 4-5 listenings. I'll give it another shot, though, as I do love the band.

Magnolia - "Steg för steg" (CD)

Abramis Brama, Svarte Pan, Horisont, Mouchta and Magnolia. Just to name a few. It’s fun to see our country’s hard rock forefathers November have inspired so many new and great bands. Magnolia have now released three albums, the same amount November made during their short time of existence. The development for Magnolia have certainly progressed, even if I really liked the band even from the start. What hit me is that the production feels so much more solid on this album. It has really nice dynamics, free from all destructively over-the-top in-your-face mastering and mix. Despite this the sound is really fat and heavy with a classically seventies inspired broad stereo sound. Furthermore the guitars are heavy and raw but without being over-distorted. I can almost bet it’s pure tube amplification we’re hearing, it does really sound that way. Also, the drums are nicely liberated from any triggs and added sounds, instead they have gone for a Bonhamish room sound which can only be obtained using real drums in a real room. Just listen to the intro of “Nu får det vara nog”. This, in combination with Ronny’s fat distorted bass á la Felix Pappalardi makes this a sound for sore ears. Ronny is also a great singer and he, of course, sings in his mother language (Swedish if anyone wonders). I also feel the songs on the new album are stronger than ever, with a multitude of killer riffs nicely baked into the groovy songs. In the track “Jag vandrar” they have even succeeded making a Fender Rhodes piano sound heavy, which is an achievement well worth noticing! This album is a treat for us fans of seventies classics like Mountain, November, Cream, Blue Cheer etc. I’m actually quite impressed Ronny has succeeded in writing so many great riffs, that despite this well-explored genre, feel fresh and new. I actually didn’t feel any recognition of any other “oldie” in any of the songs. Of course you will hear traces of the influences, but the songs sounds new. Just like “the elder” is by no means a one track album, but spreads out into other musical areas, such as the cool jazz-bluesy, but still quite heavy “Jag vandrar”, with a killer guitar solo by Mark Tholin (who also handles the piano). Another example is the happy instrumental “Arbetar I solsken”, who also walks its own little path. A truly awesome album which is in it absolute top of all the current November worshippers’ works! Check it out!
Janne Stark
Year: 2010
Label: Transubstans
Country: Sweden
Link: http://www.myspace.com/magnoliarock

Suicide Nation - "Jesus Crisis" (CD)

Swedish heavy thrashers Suicide Nation made their debut in 2005, entitled “Evilution”, and the follow-up “Vaya Con Chaos” came two years after. Keeping the two-year sequence, they unleashed their third effort late 2009. It’s however definitely not too late to review it! I hadn’t heard their earlier releases when their third effort ended up in my mail box. Now I have to get those, too, because this friggin’ rocks!!! Imagine a mix of Black Label Society, Mustasch, Spiritual Beggars and Soilwork. Heavy, raw, skullcrushing metal with a touch of thrash mixed with a fat stonerish vibe. These guys know how to write earth shattering riffs! It’s however not without dynamics which shows already in the second track “Holy Book, Holy Lies, Holy Water” with its clean guitar parts thrown in. They’ve also got a really cool heavy groove going on, which they prove in stomper “The Load”. The track “Hypocrite” sounds quite a lot like LOK but with more melodic vocals and in English and with a guitar solo. Killer track, indeed! Daniel Löfgren is a rough edged singer with a broad vocal spectrum, from cool soft almost bluesy vocals, like in the melodic “God Is Not The Answer” (hmm… do I sense a lyrical theme here?) to pure brutal gutsy roars like in opener “Remains”. At times he reminds me a bit of Spice (ex-Spiritual Beggars) but with a bit more variation. This is all in all a really evenly strongs album. No classics maybe, but definitely not any fillers. Each track has its own right to be there and fills its purpose, which is to make this one solid rocker of an album. Great production, too! Highly recommended indeed!

Janne Stark

Year: 2009

Label: Godsize

Country: Sweden

Link: http://www.myspace.com/suicidenationswe