Tuesday 23 October 2012

PETER MARTINSSON GROUP – Guitar State Of Mind (CD)


 
I found Swedish guitarist Peter Martinsson when googling his old 70s/80s band Plebb. I found Peter had not only continued playing guitar, but also become one hell of a player! Now his first solo album has finally hit the streets. What you find here is an outstanding collection of instrumental guitar music, ranging from heavy rock to blues to folky rock to countryish playing. Peter is an outstanding, versatile guitarist, who at times remind me of the outstanding Thomas Larsson. Songs like Groove In My Backyard draws a bit towards vintage Joe Satriani, while Shoot makes me think of Greg Koch wacky blues rock. Made It is a cool melodic thing with a slight folky touch. I can’t continue without mentioning Peter’s outstanding musicians, bassist Per-Martin Pettersson and drummer Ulf Becker, who really know how to groove. In J.M.H (which I guess stands for James Marshall Hendrix) he does show some Hendrixy overtones, but I actually come to think more of Stevie Ray Vaughan, who of course was influenced by J.M.H. Besides playing some really mean licks and being a crazy good player, Peter can also write great songs. These are no guitar wanking backgrounds, but actually great songs with melodies that can hold their own and riffs that really rock! Speaking of Greg Koch, the solo in Walk With Me reminds me a bit of his style in the way he explores scales that really raises your eyebrow. I love it when people push it outside the box and make it sound crazy and cool. Guitar State Of Mind is true guitar mojo of the highest order! Get it!
Janne Stark
Country: Sweden
Year: 2012
Label: Grooveyard Records

BADGE – Demo 2012 (4 track CD-R)


Badge is the perfect psycho-blues-power-trio-from-Hell. Raunchy, explosive, dirty, mean and raw to the bone. The band consists of guitarist/singer Matti Norlin (Ninja, Wizard), bassist Gustaf Hielm (Meshuggah, Pain Of Salvation, Charta 77) and drummer Fredrik Haake (Meldrum, God Is My Co-Pilot). I’m not sure what bands to compare them to, as I simply can’t find any. Basically Badge plays hard edged, wild-eyed blues with Norlin playing the shit out of his acoustic guitar or dobro, while Haake bangs the shit out of his drum kit. I think this band would actually be too heavy if you added distortion as well. It’s really cool that a trio playing acoustic instruments can make it sound this heavy. Calculated Moves is dangerously close to psychobilly with its up-tempo craziness with Norlin going slide crazy and Haake going totally wild with Hielm is doing an excellent job backing them up. It’s actually totally impossible to sit still listening to this musical eruption. Bloody great stuff! The band has an album finished and I sure hope they will get it out. This needs to be heard!
Janne Stark
Label: None
Year: 2012
Country: Sweden

ALLOY - The Path So Frequently Trodden (CDR)


Alloy is a new Swedish combatant on the battle grounds of classic heavy metal. To quote themselves they are on a path frequently trodden. Alloy plays classic sounding eighties heavy metal, showing quite obvious traces of Iron Maiden and Manowar, but also US metal band Brocas Helm. They place themselves alongside newcomers like Enforcer, Steelwings, Helvetets Port and Evilseve, and they do pretty well. There are some flaws here and there, but nothing major. The songs have all the necessary elements with good vocals, a great guitarist and a solid rhythm section. The recording is liberatingly free of autotune and trigged drums, and relies on a classic analogue sound. The vocals are often the band’s Achilles’ heel, and Jonas Edström may not be any Bruce Dickinson, but he does a really good job. The songs are also good and solid with my favourite being the slightly heavier Sea Of Lies with its of gloomy riffing. A really good start, boys!
Janne Stark
Country: Sweden
Label: none (demo-CDR)

CORRODED - State Of Disgrace (CD)


Corroded is one helluva force to be reckoned with. I’ve always liked their records, but after seeing them live the feeling was enhanced. This band is no studio product. They deliver, and they deliver with confidence and power. Corroded are for real! State Of Disgrace proves it even more. Twelve songs, twelve statements, twelve melodic hard rocking songs that kick ass. From up-tempo rockers like I Will Not, to heavy crunchy, yet melodic numbers such as I Am God, the beautiful balladry of Beautiful Revolution, to the powerful Pantera:iash riffing in Believe In Me. Throw Pantera, Shinedown and Sevendust in a blender and add some Swedish originality, and you have Corroded. A great powerful album that’s just another proof of this band’s greatness. A killer album indeed!
Janne Stark
Label: NineTone
Year: 2012
Country: Sweden

TORBEN SCHMIDT - Long Story Short (CD)

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Ok, now I’m quite far outside my musical comfort zone. I’m a metal head, hard rocker, thrash fan, and generally don’t listen to westcoast or pop. However I do have a soft spot for a few artists, one being Brett Walker, which is sort of where this one lands. Even though Torben Schmidt used to sing in Danish AOR band Skagerack, Long Story Short could be compared to the stuff Joey Tempest did when Europe folded (or took a break), or, Brett Walker. This is very poppy, very melodic, but I actually really like this! Torben manages to keep it on the right side of the slimy wimp-fence. First and foremost, he’s a great singer, reminding me a bit of Alien’s Jim Jidhed, with a very pleasant voice that doesn’t sound irritatingly buttery. He also adds some rock attitude to the brew. Sure, tracks like All Is Said could probably make it well into the American country rock chart, but when Mattias Ia Eklund adds his guitar to it all, it takes a different turn. Luckily Torben hasn’t fallen into the trap Mark Spiro fell into on his last album, using programmed drums and f***ing auto tune overload. Long Story Short sounds alive and nicely dynamic in its sound and approach. Real musicians playing – check. No audible autotune – check. He’s also using musicians not immediately intimately associated to this genre, such as Mattias Ia Eklund, Chritsian Alsing and Björn Fryklund. I also love the solos in It’s The Fire by Simon Rabenhöj. Great tone and firey style. It took some soul searching to admit for a narrow minded rocker like myself, but here it is - I actually, honestly, really like and enjoy the album! Ok, there are a few tracks that are a bit too cheesy even for me, like You (one of the the only two with some programming involved) and.., well, I guess it’s actually the only one. Not my style in general, but I must say this was a nice surprise.
Janne Stark
Label: Thunderstruck
Country: Denmark
Year: 2012