Leather clad rock n roll from the most oily gang in town
Right at the end of this 11 track slice of turbocharged oblivion – the band’s first for five years – there’s a moment of reflection. “(Tonight We’re Gonna) Die Like Heroes”, is a piano ballad, not too far away from something that a (very) gruff Bruce Springsteen might have had a try at on “Born To Run.” It’s last line is the telling one: “tonight we are finally peaceful men” intones Eddie Guz. Here, it is very much the calm after the storm, because the rest of “Laughing In The Face Of Death” has been so adrenaline fuelled and testosterone soaked that there’s been little room for contemplating anything other than the next fight and/or drag race.
That much has been obvious from the off. The albums very first line – on “Hellfire” – “they say we play too loud/they say we play too fast” and this, by the way occurs over a riff that is equal parts Motörhead, AC/DC and Thin Lizzy’s “Are You Ready?”.
You already knew that though, a simple look at the cover, which depicts five leather clad blokes with Aviator shades tells you that this is unashamedly aggressive, and most unapologetically the last biker gang in town.
It’s also tremendous fun throughout. “Water Into Wine” is just a timelessly wonderful boogie and if you are gonna get “all fuelled up on the Devil’s Gasoline” then this might as well be the tune you do it to. Likewise, if “Blood For Blood” hasn’t got even a single bit of originality as – guess what – it, sounds like Lemmy fronting ACDC with Phil Lynott supplying the melody, then remember this: not everything has to push the boundaries and not everyone has a desire to create something “arty”.
So you’d imagine that “The Wolves Are Gonna Howl Tonight” – and biker rock hasn’t had this much boogie since the Almighty’s first record – will be superb live, and although “The Undertaker” might start like its all spooky and horror filled, it’s soon it’s in its stride: “tonight I’m gonna dig a hole” grumbles Guz. Quite.
There’s even a couple of songs about the glory of heavy metal. “Days Of Metal” considers being Manowar for about 30 seconds, while “Lords Of Thunder” is a duet – we kid you not – with Dimmu Borgir’s Shagrath (that bands keyboard man Geir Bratland also supplies the piano on “….Heroes”) and “Don’t Touch The Flame” was – we kid you not again – their entry into the Norwegian competition to find a Eurovision song in 2012.
That’s because, Norway understands something fundamental. They know that sometimes, just sometimes, rock n roll is all you need and these Norwegians provide (Marshall) stacks of it.
Rating 9/10
