Sweden Rock Festival 2015

MOB

Unfortunately, I was only able to attend one day of Sweden Rock this year, the friday. There were a lot of really cool bands every day as usual but we had seen many of these and decided we could only afford to go one day. The headliner on the weds was the Danish band DAD. We had seen them a few years back on the Rock stage and they put on a great show but not a band I felt I needed to see again. My friend Tom’s band, the Order of Israfel was also playing on that day and I have still never seen them. We had seen the Quireboys just the year and also Hell, maybe two years ago. The headliner on Thursday was Def Leppard, which we had no interest in seeing at all. I would have liked to see Spike’s Free House with Simon Kirke doing a FREE set and FISH doing one of his last sets ever. Slash, Carl Palmer’s ELP, Exodus, Ghost, Toto, and Airbourne were some of the others playing. Saturday the headliner was Judas Priest. Other cool bands playing that day were: Riot V, Ace Frehley, Mother's Finest, Nuclear Assault, The Angels (Angel City in the US), and Behemoth. 

Dark Tranquility

The Friday was a great day and we arrived early enough to catch one song of MOB, a Swedish metal band and then over to see some of Dark Tranquility, the singer Mikael Stanne I have met each year at Roadburn for the past few years but had never seen his band. They play melodic, progressive death metal. I was quite surprised how well the audience seem to know the band and were really into it. They had some great tracks but it was not my kind of music with those kind of vocals. This was apparently the first show with the new bass player.

Next we went off to see Scott Biram, a one man nasty blues man from Austin, Texas. He has been touring around in Europe for the past few months playing every where including Roadburn. He was very enjoyable and the small crowd was really into it as well. He made a kick drum beat and played both acoustic and electric guitar and sang mostly about drinking! It was great to see they finally moved the Rockklassiker stage after 4 years of complaints. Sound pollution from the other stages was much less now, which was great... 

Scott Biram

Molly Hatchet were back at Sweden Rock but the first time ever on the main Festival stage. The weather was hot and fantastic with a light breeze. They had the stage set up for a 5 piece band but only four showed up. NO Dave Hlubek? I had never heard of Molly Hatchet ever playing as a 4 piece before. There are so many dual guitar parts. Anyway, they blasted through the same set they played last time here and I guess they play every night. Don’t think they played anything later than the Devil’s Canyon record. Crowd liked them and Bobby was totally in fire on the lead guitar but the sound just really missed that 2nd guitar. A wounded version of the band. If Dave is gone for good, this is now a band with no original members and no one in this line up even played on the songs that make up 85% of the set. IF they can stand on their own now, they should play most the songs they have written. At least try that next tour and see what happens? 

Molly Hatchet

Set List: Whiskey Man, Outlaws, Gator Country, Fall of The Peacemakers, Devil's Canyon

Beatin' The Odds, Son of The South, Jukin' City, Dreams I'll Never See, The Journey, Flirtin' With Disaster

Alestorm was next and this is a really fun band. Pirate metal from Scotland! I think Sue and I last saw them at the Pagan Fest in Vienna and that was a blast. The crowd was totally ready with plastic swords, pirate hats and a large pirate flag blowing in the air. A sort of thrash metal with keyboards and lots of songs about drinking, screwing and killing and full sing along choruses… Not a band I would listen to at home I think but great fun live. 

Alestorm

Rock Goddess. Wow.. a band I never thought I would ever see. They reunite with all three original members and this was only their 2nd show in 35 years! I have all the old records and 7”s… I loved them in the day,  A bit more heavier than Girlschool on the first records… Anyway, the girls rocked the house and are better musicians today than back then so sounded great. Her voice was really ballsy as well. They played a really cool set and did not only stick to old tracks but played three brand new numbers as well. I really dug it…

Set list: Satisfied and Crucified, One Hot Night, Two Wrongs, This Time, You’ve got Fire, To be Betrayed, Flying, Take your love Away, Make my Night, Drive you Away, This is the Day, My Angel, Back to You, HM Rock and Roll.

We were able to catch a bit of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and that really surprised me. He had a few pop hits in his day but the band really were jamming and having a great time. It was more a blues rock set. I dug it. We only heard about 35mins though.

Manfred Mann

Blackberry Smoke, who we had seen the night before were next on the Sweden Stage and their was a pretty big crowd and the weather was amazing, We sat up on the hill with a great view and enjoyed the great southern rock… They did not play anything different from the night before having had to leave out some songs for their 75 mins set. Crowd loved it and they had the best sound of the entire festival. Great sound man… 

Set List: Six Ways to Sunday, Let me help you find the door, Like I am, Crimson Moon, Pretty Little Lie, Fire in the Hole, Rock and Roll again, Good one com in’ on, Sleeping Dogs Lie-Your time is gonna come-Sleeping Dogs, Holy Ghost, Wish in one Hand, I ain’t got the blues anymore, Up in Smoke, One Horse Town, Payback’s a Bitch, Ain’t much left of me

Next up was Opeth on the main festival stage. They had a few backdrops and let the music do the talking, We sat on the grass pretty far away but you could hear it perfect and see them on the screens. It is great to see this band having progressed into a full gown prog band and leaving most of the death metal behind. They had a lot of long complex tracks and only played the occasional older song from what I could see. They got a full 90mins which was great. 

Opeth

20:45  Backyard Babies or Pat Travers Band???? Sue and I choose Pat Travers and our Swedish friends went for BB… Last time I saw Pat Travers was here at SRF, like 6-7 years ago. He had some totally different players in the band. I saw him for the first time in 1979!  Always good and here he played a mix of blues and his 70s rock stuff. It was a really excellent set. 

Set List: Rock n Roll Suzie, Life in London, Crash and Burn, I’ve got news for You, Black Betty, Diamond Girl, Heat in the Street, Stevie, Statesboro Blues (ABB), Blues guitar Jam, Red House, Snortin’ Whiskey, Boom Boom out go the Lights, Born under a bad Sign. 

Lucifier's Friend

Now, your choice was Motley Crue or Lucifer’s Friend, an old German band that was playing their first show in 28 years!!! Look to be nearly all the original members and included John Lawton on lead vocals. He sang also in Uriah Heep some years back. I would probably never get a chance to see these guys ever again and Motley Crue I saw in 1983, 1984, 1986, and a few other times in the last 10 years and knew what to expect from them.  Anyway, Lucifer’s Friend was excellent! Real cool progressive rock with a dark side to it. They played a range of songs from all their 70s records it seemed.  I think they played about 70mins. Very cool show.

Set List: Intro, Pray, Fire and Rain, In the time of Job when Mammon was a Yippie, Keep Goin’, Dirty Water, Rid it High, Key´board solo, Moonshine Rider, Did you Ever, Burning Ships, Fugitive> Ride the Sky, My Flying Lady 

We did manage to catch the very end of Motley Crue from Mick Mars guitar solo, Live Wire, Too young to Fall in Love, Girls, Girls, Girls, Kickstart my Heart, Home Sweet Home. They had a very cool stage and lots of pyro. Vince was not sounding all that good though and look quite heavy…… still ran around lot and had some girls on the stage to help out with backing vocals and to distract…. I think people liked it but the local newspaper only gave them 1 star….

Always great to be back at Sweden Rock!  The tie dating on the camera is UK time so it is one hour behind the real time in Sweden...  Hope to go to the festival next year.. Let's see what the line up is like..

Morgan Square- Byhaven, Pumpehuset, CPH June 10th, 2015

Morgan Square is a five piece psychedelic rock band from Århus, Denmark. They have played a few times in Copenhagen and my friend Lone has recommended that I see them and finally I made it. Byhaven is a free outdoor event that occurs during the summertime on a small stage outside the concert venue, Pumpehuset. They have a lot of picnic tables set up, grill burgers and sell ecological pilsner beer and wine. People can bring their own as well. The shows start at 18:30 and end by 21 due to the hotel across the street. 

The band started a bit later than expected and opened with a new song from a brand new 2 song CD-R called Lucy, My Friend. I was immediately caught by the serious retro and spacey sound the band has. They have one guy how plays a saw and there was a lot of trouble with the sound of this (made mostly loud static sounds until the end of the show when it was better and the proper bowed sound). Some of the stuff reminds me of Syd Barrett meets the Doors. Next up was a song called White Walls and this was quite long. A very cool track and on the bands debut CD-R they produce last year. 

Next I filmed the other new song called Where’s your Spirit? This is also on the new CD single. This track features some organ and they go through a couple of different interludes including a freakout guitar part. Achbaham has this Eastern feel to it. This track was from the EP from last year. Føsmennesret was the oldest song from the band set from their 2013 EP. The set ended with Irakka. All the songs are pretty long, at least 5-10mins each, which gives the band plenty of time to experiment a bit. Really cool band. Look forward to see them again at Kildemose Festival. 

Set List: Lucy, My Friend, White Walls, Where’s your Spirit, Achbaham, Føsmennesret, Irakka

https://morgansquare.bandcamp.com

http://www.facebook.com/morgansquareband

BLACKBERRY SMOKE- Amager Bio, Copenhagen, DK June 3rd, 2015

Freddy and the Phantoms

Sue and I took a walk down to the venue and when were arrived the band were sound checking. We hung out and heard about 30mins including a jam on California Man by Cheap Trick! We had a really nice chat with their merchandise man. He was really cool and liked New Mexico. The band had played in Albuquerque two times. A few months back I wrote to the band and management about doing an interview but never got an answer. We talked with the Road manger, named Scott and he said it had to be pre-arranged and he could do nothing. He would put me on the guest list so I could review the show and help publicise the band here in Denmark. 

Seems there is not much advertising for this show and the pre-sales were really low. I have tried to promote it on Facebook at least. We will see. No opening act was listed on the web site but one of the crew for the venue said it was a good blues rock band.

Anyway, a Danish act called Freddy and the Phantoms (sounds like a 50s R&R band!) hit the stage at 20 and played a 35min set of hard rocking blues rock with two guitars and an intense organ player. The songs were short, focused and all five the of the members sang backing vocals and Freddy doing most of the lead guitar and all the main vocals. They had made two records I could see and the crowd quite liked them. I would have liked them more if they had played half as many songs and made them twice as long and did some more longer solos. They did a great job in the 35mins they had.

Set List: Ties of Division, Shadows across the Country, Down Down Down, One of these Days, When the Raven Pecks, Better come  what May, Morning Sun, Borderline Blues, No one to Blame

About 21:05 BBS hit the stage and played their standard set that is nearly exactly the same every night this year but this was the first time ever in Copenhagen so it was totally fresh for everyone here. I guess about 250 people tonight and probably 1/3 of the crowd was Swedish. People were really into it though and the sound and iights were great. Charlie sounded excellent as well. 

The first 30 mins of so went by really fast as the band just cruised. Brit (the drummer) and his brother Richard are a very solid rhythm section but they seem like they were really bored. IT was not really until Sleeping Dogs when the band loosen up a bit and seem to start of have a bit of fun and emotion. Charlie he is always into it, since it is his songs but the others seem to just be cruising and pretty bored often. I think if it was not all so routine they would show more emotion. They have about 60 songs, they could play three nights in a row and not play the same song doing 20 songs a night but it is 22 songs and about 16 of these are the same every night. No wonder they look bored. Anyway, despite this, this a fucking great band, with great songs and you have a blast every time they play. You can sing along, rock and roll a bit, laugh and have a good time out with some of the nicest guys in rock and roll music. This was my 4th time to see the band and I will keep coming back for sure! 

It was really fun to hear California Man but Cheap Trick as on the 2nd encore song! 

Set List: Six Ways to Sunday, Let me help you, Like I am, Pretty Lil Lie, Fire in the Hole, R&R Again, Good one comin’ On, Crimson Moon, Sleeping Dogs, Holding all the Roses, Sanctified Woman, Whippoorwill, Lucky Seven, One Horse Town, Up in Smoke, Ain’t got the Blues, Too High, Restless, Ain’t much left of me, Encore: Payback’s a Bitch, California Man, Magnolia

Kikagaku Moyo and Moon Mountain- Loppen, Christiania May 28th, 2015

This was the first visit by the fairly new Japanese band, Kikagaku Moyo, to Europe and I was so happy they were coming to Denmark. I own all three of their records and really like the chilled stoney, sitar, 60’s vibe with some Japanese influences. Sue and I arrived early and there was not a lot of people but by the time Moon Mountain started, the people were streaming in at a steady rate. They started at like 9:40 and played about 40mins, I think. They are a trio with a female vocalist who also played a small drum kit and other percussion items. She had a cool voice and used some different effects at times. The young bald man in the middle seem to run the show with sampled beats and effects but also playing some lead and regular synths as well. On the far right was the guitar player who I though was not very adventurous most of the time but sometimes he showed some flair and even did some live looped guitar. Sometimes the reminded me a bit of an old Danish band called Alive with Worms, Sue also though Cocteau Twins (I never heard them). The two techno songs were the least interesting but the ones the crowd was most into! A very young crowd…  The band had an 12” EP for sale. According to their set list Back Door and That’s Right were new songs.

Set List: Back Door, Down to the Wire, happy Child, Breaker, That’s Right, Find the Sun, Reach You.

Kikagaku Moyo started off with a short 4min piece with two guitars and sitar all sitting on the stage or chairs (see video) and then the drummer and bass player came out for the rest of the show. There were some songs that I did not recognize so they might be new. They played half of the record Forest of Lost Children and it was heavier live than on the studio album. The concert was cool and I loved the vibe they have with the drummer and Tomo doing a lot of vocals together (the drummer, I think is the one that has the more feminine voice). The only played maybe 55mins and left the stage but the people were not going to let them go and they did two encore songs. That I did not expect. Cool concert…

Set List: 3x, Tree Smoke, Street Of Balovtta, Kodama, Smoke and Mirrors, Guy, Dawn, Two encore songs: ? ?

Gov't Mule- Fabrik, Hamburg, DE May 14th, 2015

          It had been 3-4 years since I last saw Gov’t Mule live. They have only played three times in Scandinavia (Sweden Rock, Finland and Copenhagen). We had a rough trip to Hamburg due to a 5 hr cue for the ferry in Denmark so Sabine and I barely made it to the show on time. It was 21:02 and as we walked in the band had just started playing Bad Little Doogie. This was a really cool place and it took us a song or two to find the right place but we squeezed ourselves just to the left of Warren about 5 people from the front. The sound was really awesome and I could see they had the old soundman back again. I did not have time to record this show unfortunately, one of the few times I have ever seen the band and not recorded..

 

I was surprised to hear so many old tracks but that was awesome. Warren really ripped it up on Mother Earth blues, which I had not heard them play since 1996! Two songs later was Temporary Saint also from the first album. The highlight of the first set for me was the jammed out Devil likes it Slow. Jörgen was killing it on the bass. He is really great when he plays with his fingers compared to using his pick.. Anyway, Drivin’ Rain, was also a rare track to hear live. I had never heard them play that one, which James Hetfield played on originally.

First Set: Bad Little Doggie, Perfect Shelter, Mother earth, Which way way do we Run, Temporary Saint, Scared to Live, No Reward, Devil likes it slow, Drivin’ Rain

There was a 20min break and we got a beer. Soulshine was a real surprise as the opener of the 2^nd set and Maybe I’m a leo was just fantastic!  I was surprised to hear I’ll be the One and I shall Return, which was a pretty mellow 20mins before I think you know what I mean. Get behind the Mule was really cool and Danny even played the Trombone… Cool concert as always and the entire band played awesome and Warren was in top form..

2^nd Set:

Soulshine > Maybe I'm A Leo, I'll Be The One with Blue Sky tease, Hottentot >Drums >

Hottentot, I Shall Return with Drift Away, I Think You Know What I Mean >When The Levee Breaks >I Think You Know What I Mean, Slackjaw Jezebel with Hush tease

ENCORE: Get Behind The Mule

Tuliterä- Tulikaste (Plug Music Production PLUG4)

Tuliterä is a very cool Finnish band. I have been following them for a few years and the two main members stayed at my apartment last year and played me the rough demos for this record and I was pretty impressed but damn, this record really blows me away. It features 9 very intense tracks spread over an hour of instrumental metallic space rock. Percolator starts off with a lot of cool space sounds and some programed drums-percussion and a really beautiful melodic guitar line before the “big bang” and the heavy stuff begins and the super intense like death metal double bass drums just blast you and a very heavy riff kicks in. Wow.. Alpha Blade will remind you of a more metallic version of Farflung. Some great lead guitar on this track that melds together into some really psychedelic stuff. Jagat speeds things up further but here the synths play a stronger role in the sound at first and later the guitars as the space metal rockets forward.. Firedew starts off with a minute long synth part before the heavy guitars, bass and drums kick in. The entire track maintains this very melodic synth for the first part and then a dramatic break takes over at 1½ mins with some really beautiful melodic but spacey lead guitar with nice harmonies. Mindblowing sound on this one and very psychedelic and it ends with the synths the way it began but more dreamy. Cetus starts with a very repetitive part before the lead guitar kicks in and drives the track but it is a short, almost incomplete track that leads into Voidborn, which is primarily keyboard driven to start. It has beautiful guitar harmonies on this slow building track that repeats a lot of the parts but then layers on another synth or guitar so it just gets more psychedelic and includes Jaire on sitar. Star Rodeo kicks up the pace to near speed metal with some intense heavy metal but with the space synthesizers layer in such a way they really penetrate your brain. All Seeing Delierum starts off very heavy and intense and then there is a break at 3mins before the really intense metallic space craft takes off and the track just gets faster and more intense. There is a short very mellow bluesy part with some beautiful guitar after 12mins and then the heavy returns before the track ends at 14mins! Menticide ends the 67min heavy psychedelic space trip. Phew…. If you can sit down and hear this entire album, you are brave, patient and adventurous . Awesome stuff..

          I really dig this band. Check out the record on bandcamp. The Vinyl version will be released later this year on the Space Rock Productions label in a double gatefold in only 300 copies with an extra track. You can buy the CD from the band now though.

http://tulitera.bandcamp.com

THE SEVENTH RING OF SATURN- ORMYTHOLOGY CD (US 2015)

TSROS is a band from Massachussetts in the USA. They have appeared on a number of Fruits de Mer tribute albums with covers of the Beatles, Hollies, and others as well as original songs. The band has made one full length record released on Nusrat in 2007. This CD-EP is all new material (2 original songs) both songs and instrumentals but also includes on cover song of Hurdy Gurdy (an old Danish band) and two others. The CD comes in a very simple thick white cardboard sleeve with two printed stamps on it. Inside is a sleeve with the CD and a white paper with all the details. There are specific notes of how plays what for all 8 of the tracks. The CD starts off with Burning a Hole. This is a happy song sung by Ted (who plays bass on all track) and he also does the guitar solo. I would say the track is inspired by the likes of the Bevis Frond and 60s bands… Teli Teli Teli is an instrumental track with a bit of an eastern feel to it and includes Joe and Ted on sitar guitar. Time to Fly is another good rockin’ 60s inspired track with a the guitar solo mixed well up front (nice..). Karli Daglar is another instrumental track (just bass, drums and guitar). Faces is a more moody track with a cool bass line and nice wah guitar by Jacob Brown. Yedikule is another instrumental again with this eastern feel but not sitar guitar this time.  Uzun Ince Bir Yoldayim is another instrumental and features the sitar guitar briefly (does not list it but sure sounds like it) and Jacob returns on lead guitar. The last track is a cool cover of the track Spaceman from the Danish band Hurdy Gurdy! If you are a fan of the band, you will like this for sure… I have put a link below to a great interview with the main man form the band Ted.

http://www.tsros.com                http://www.goldminemag.com/news/artist-news/studying-ormithology-seventh-ring-saturn

Electric Moon- Theory of Mind (Sulatron st1506)

Electric Moon is back with a new double vinyl or CD release. The album was recorded in Heildeberg and mixed by Sula. It features one song per album side and starts off with the 16min Hypnotika. This starts slowly with some synthesizers and slowly builds up into the EM wall of hypnotic sound and HEAVY spaced out guitar…. A cool jam but a lot like many other pieces you have heard by them. Next up is the 19min title track. It starts off more floating and noodling and slowly the synth becomes more prominent in the sound. As the synths disappeared into the ether, this slowly builds up with a long and melodic slow stoney wah solo by Sula. As is pretty standard for EM, it slowly gets more and more heavy phased out guitar as the bass and drums just keep it steady… Totally far out guitar effects and torture at the end… The Picture starts off side 3 with a very heavy bass line and guitar riff, some of the most doomy stuff the band has done. Eventually Sula totally loses control of his guitar as the track spins out of control……… but the hypnosis is still in full effect. Aerosoul is the last track at 14½ mins long and more spacey and something a bit different, which I like a lot.  The band deliver what the fans, I guess expect of them these days, heavy hypnotic music with freakout guitar.... Enjoy...

http://www.electricmoon.de http://www.sulatron.com

SECRET SAUCER- PHASE FIVE (SFS006)

Secret Saucer are back with their 6^th release. Dave Hess and Steve Hayes are the core of the band with various other members coming and going. This is the first SS release without my friend Greg Kozlowski from Arc Met featured on at least a few songs. Ted Boburka plays percussion and drums on most tracks and Bill Spear most of the bass. Dan Schnell, John Pack and Steve Bemand handle basically all the guitars. This album actually is very synthesizer oriented and much less guitar than any of the bands previous records and start off with Blue Star, which is only synths and some percussion with a vocal or sample way in the back to give it this sort of spaced out tribal feel. Spin Drift is an uptempo happy track that reminds me of some weird late 70’s commercial film soundtrack. The Visible Light is more like 70s Tangerine Dream but with some fiddle here and there. The Alderson Point is the first track with a more hard rock guitar and heavy bass line. John Pack plays the lead guitar on this one. Three Days of Darkness starts is made of 3 parts and starts off with a slow doomy part with a lot of cool synths and great soloing by Steve Bemand. Great 8½ min track. The Quencher starts with a repetitive synth loop and then the drums come and then the bass and then the guitar and off we go for another track that has a really happy feeling to it but still very spacey. Space Walking has these really cool long synths space drones (make voice like sounds later) while the other synth plays the lead line. Mr natural is the most experimental and out there tracks to start as the synth line slowly fades up and the track takes off. Features Greg Klucher on Flute and James Dunn on drums and has a sort of jazzy feel to it. The final track is called Nova Star to end a really cool album and for sure the most melodic and sort of mainstream one the band has made. Great stuff.

Http://secretsaucer.bandcamp.com

Ole Lukkoye- Dyatly (Trail Records 016)

I have been waiting for years for this new record to come out. It was recorded nearly completely live in the studio on two different dates in 2013 and then they spent the next years doing some studio wizardry and a few overdubs. The CD is made up of five long tracks spread over 67mins. Two of the original members of the band (the leader Boris) and long time bassoon player, Frol but all the rest are new players with Boris and Ness on vocals. The music has that feel of the early albums and you slowly get totally sucked into it.. Kommuna-Ra starts things off with a wolf like howl but the programmed drums and sounds kick in as the hand drumming is layered on and the hypnotic vocals and then the bass line starts to drive the track. The keyboard line that is quite common in some OL tracks precedes the vocal of Boris. He wrote the lyrics but the female vocal singing is mostly improvised. Very hypnotic. I love that sound when Frol kicks in with the bassoon. Dyatly (Woodpeckers) is the longest track at 17½ mins. His tracks starts off with most vocal improvs and percussion and drums before the bass line joins in and then some guitar. It slowly builds and you get transported away into the OL world as more layers of sounds come and go as do the vocals. Bela Dama begins with a harp like instrument and some layers of synths and sounds and then the vocal comes as the drum (kick) and then the rest of the programmed drums as you slowly glide like on a sea of sound. Very dreamy and trippy this track but also one of the more uptempo ones. Just Wind features a real drum kit and has some trippy manipulated voices and sounds at the beginning before the track heads into the same territory as the previous tracks but is more electronic in nature. Veni, Vidi, Vici is a short 4 min track that ends the CD as if you have been dreaming the whole time you heard the record… I have always loved the music of this band and this is going back to more of their early sounds but still a lot of programming on some of the songs and maybe a bit too much of the same after a while by the time you get to track 4. Still… a cool return.

http://www.trailrecords.us http://www.olelukkoye.ru

Vidunder- Oracles and Prophets (Crusher Records CDCD028)

Vidunder is a fairly new Swedish band from Malmö. I had previously reviewed their first 7” and full length records here on my blog and I had seen them live once or twice as well. Since their first releases the band has added Johannes on the organ and this has made a huge change in the sound and dynamics of the band. I was pretty disappointed with the last release, as I felt it lacked much originality and the band was trying too hard to sound like Graveyard and Witchcraft. This album shows a major growth from these guys from Malmö.  The album starts off with Gone with Dawn (See the very cool video below) an mid paced track that sets the sound and sound plan for most of the record; heavy rock with a lot of organ and catchy songs and some nice lead guitar. Son of Every Lie is also an uptempo rocker but with more focus on the guitar than the organ. You slowly get used to Martin’s vocal style which is quite special. This track is very much like Graveyard but with an organ. Phoenix Cluster has a happy feeling to it and maintains a mid-pace. It reminds me a bit of a more commercial Big Elf but not so bombastic! Martin’s guitar playing has really improved as this band has played and toured a lot. The mid-section of this long song has some spoken word over under the long solo and spacey organ sounds. Great song. Kalhygge is a short instrumental track focusing on the organ playing of Johannes. The Owl has a familiar sounding riff to start the track. The vocals is a bit like the Big Elf singer to start but then it changes as the track gets heavier and more dynamic. In and out of Mind is a really great rock number with some intense guitar. Twisted Faces is a pretty straight and more mainstream radio friendly track but it does have a short guitar solo and the chorus repeated many times over and over. Soon Gone is a proper ballad and slows down the pace of the record. The title track ends the record with another uptempo track. If I have a complaint about the record it would be the organ is nearly the same on all the songs and always plays exactly what your mind would tell you, not very exploring or pushing any boundaries, and always playing it very safe.  Fan of organ driven revival of the 70s sound from Sweden should enjoy this record.

http://www.crusherrecords.com http://vidunderband.com

Zone Six- Love Monster (Sulatron st1504)

Zone Six is another group currently lead by Sula Bassana, who is the only member left from the original and older line up of the band. This is the group’s first studio album in 11 years and Sula plays the drums (he has always played bass and synths on all the other studio albums). Lulu, lays down the bass, Rainer (Pancakes) the guitar and another musical buddy of Sula, Modulfix on synths. Love Monster starts the record off and features some cool guitar playing by Rainer who mixes heavy riffing ala Electric Moon with more lead guitar. This early section of this track sounds a lot like EM. Martin is mixed pretty low and you often don’t really recognize his presence unless you really listen closely. The Insights starts with some spacey sounds as the bass and guitar slowly start a hypnotic riff over which the synths are layered. It has a nice melody as it slowly builds up. It gets heavier later but Martin plays a bigger role in this track and keeps it spacey. Acidic has about the same pace and again could be an EM song with the way the guitar freaks out and the bass line is very steady. Rainer comes up with some nice melodic guitar at the end and some synths can also be heard as it fades away. Cosmogyral is the longest track at 15mins. This features some really cool tortured and freaked out lead guitar while the synths lay this really spacey foundation. The end slows everything down and is spaced out.. Cool instrumental improvised freak rock….

http://www.sulatron.com http://www.zonesix.de

Space Debris- Live at Finkenbach 2012 (Green Brain SDFID415CD)

Six years ago the band released a live CD and DVD from Burg Herzberg. Since that time the band have released quite a few records and have a new keyboard player and bass player. Tommy (guitar) and Christian (drums) is still the mainstay of the band. He also has another band that has recently released an album. This CD features new songs and nothing that was on that previous live record and starts off with the great song Sunny Freaks.

A slow heavy burning 70s blues rocker with nice organ and great guitar playing. The whole band have a great feel to the way they play like the Allman Brothers in a single drummer, single guitar version.  Just great playing and jamming from all players. Finkimountain is next at weighs in at 19mins. This has a monster Hendrix inspired guitar riff that starts the song off. After Tommy does a solo Winnie does a great solo and then they trade back and forth each taking cool solos and then back to the heavy riff every now and again. Great stuff. Woodways is the next track that last 17mins and is broken into two pieces. It starts with a wah delay guitar and some piano as it slowly grows. When the track comes down and Winnie is playing the organ by himself, the 1^st part comes to an end and they off on another jam with a bit of an eastern flavour to it. Winnie later changes to a Rhodes piano like sound with a cool effect on it. Out of the Sun ends the live concert and includes a short drum solo. I love the riff , the tension on this track. The very last track is a sort of bonus track called Demons and was recorded in Koblenz by Andreas in 2014. This track is very synthesizer oriented track with some intense drumming at the end. This track is cool but feels a bit less together than the other jams. Another great album and you can see some of the concert at the video below. 

http://www.green-brain-krautrock.de http://www.spacedebrisprojekt.de

MUGSTAR AND DAMO SUZUKI- START FROM ZERO LP (Important Records IMPREC393)

As many bands in the past, Mugstar has also performed with legend Damo Suzuki. This concert was recorded back in 2012 in Liverpool but only recently released on Important Records. It features three tracks on with a collage of live pictures from the show. Waken to the Night is a long track and starts things off with a Damo vocal improve as the rest of the band kick into an uptempo track with wah guitar. The middle of this track has some really cool super effected guitar and is really psyched out Peter plays some synths. The end is very intense. Very cool song. Subway Sound is a short 3-4min or so dreamy piece that moves directly into Innanewah which has a far out synth line that goes straight into your brain the way it is mixed as the band are pretty noisy while the drums and bass maintain the groove and neil does his guitar thing.. Cool stuff.  You can actually tell that Damo is singing mostly in English on this set of songs. While some bands allow Damo to really push the band into a totally different direction, the band seem to do the Mugstar thing and Damo just has to sing along the best he can to what appear as “real” mugstar instrumental songs. I know it is not that way actually, that is is all more or less improvised. The long B side is more of a jam though called Zero Coda and it lasts like 25mins and has a massive freakout and psychedelic section with no singing by Damo.. If you like Mugstar and Damo, you can’t go wrong with this one. There is a teaser below and if you search you tube there is a short video from the actual concert but the audio is quite distorted. Enjoy.

http://www.damosuzuki.com http://www.mugstar.com http://importantrecords.com

Daily Thompson/Mos Generator Split 7” (h42 records, H42-012)

As with many of the H42 label 7”s, there are many different colours and options to buy this music and one deluxe version on Silver vinyl that also comes with a cassette with two unreleased Mos Generator tracks and two extra Daily Thompson tracks, not unreleased.  Mos Generator starts off the A side with a track called Vol IV. I wish it was Black Sabbath Vol 4 like but it is not. It is however a very raw nasty sound on an melodic hard rock song by the band that starts to really groove at the end and gets better and better. Flip the 7” over for Spit out the Crap! This is an uptempo stoner rock track with a lot more energy than the A side. It has a cool intense wah guitar section before going back to the main form of the track. A short blast of a track.

The cassette comes with three bonus tracks by each band. The Mos Generator tracks include Vol. IV, a demo of a track called Slow/moody which is just like the title says but I quite like the mood but then an average hard rock guitar riff comes in for the middle section and then back to the slow dark theme.  The live version of Early Mourning from the Freak Valley Festival shows that band really kicking ass. The Daily Thompson side has Spit out the Crap and next is a track called Lifetime. This is quite a catchy track with a groove like QOSTA but luckily he does not try to sing like Josh but then the track becomes very repetitive as the same heavy riff is repeated over and over. Moothman is the last track and slower and more stoned with a FuManchu like vocal. A cool release.

http://www.h42records.com