Ive bored everyone to tears over the years with my love of Scandinavian rock n roll.
It all started in 1998 when the Backyard Babies changed my life with a track called “Look At You”. From there its bought the album. Total 13.
So when almost 30 years (christ!) An album arrives released on Total 13 records, you’d best believe im interested.
And yeah they’re a Stockholm based 4 piece and yeah they sound like you want them to, but there’s more going on here.
There’s a bit of gravitas to how this thing lines up on the grid too, because it opens with an intro that genuinely feels like engines warming, lights about to go out, tension humming in the air. But don’t think you can second guess the fuckers from there. When it kicks in properly, this is more Airrace than The Hellacopters, a flash of melody and velocity that leans as much into classic hard rock muscle as it does sweat-soaked garage swagger.
It’s “proper” rock n roll, sure, but with a hint of that Strokes-ish danger — the sense that something might just tip over the edge at any second. Then they go and pull a bastard five-minute move that feels borderline prog, straight out of the 70s, and how good is the guitar work here. Fucking hell. It stretches out, refuses to hurry, and proves they’ve got patience as well as bite.
“Suits” somehow tops it again, partly because any song that starts with a solo is already playing the right game. Running from the suits? This thing is so anti-corporate it doesn’t even have Spotify. There’s a groove here though — a real one — driven by a bass so filthy you feel like you should wash your hands afterwards, and harmonies that would shame Kiss on their first four records.
And that’s the thing: this is a record made by lifers for lifers. They love this stuff. You can hear it in every riff, every choice. It’s just that they wish it was the 70s. Like UFO, they’re chasing that sweet spot where craft, power and melody all meet, and more often than not, they hit it.
They absolutely understand melody, and just occasionally they understand way more than that. When they let it rip, it thunders along at a million miles an hour, all pistons firing. Elsewhere it rumbles with a touch of Sabbath weight, especially on the longest cut here, which feels like the moment where the whole record walks the line — and never more so than right there.
But more than anything else, this is about how much they are enjoying this. It comes out of the speakers. You can feel the grin, the volume, the sweat.
They race off with “Emission” another instrumental and yeah Greta Thunberg won’t approve of the diesel fumes, but surely anyone with a pulse and a love of rock n roll will love how electric “Charger” is.
Rating: 9/10
