Saturday, February 9, 2013

The Hyper Actives - "Rock 'n' Roll Lives"

Back when I was an ankle biter, there was a popular pop group from Sweden who were everyone's radar whether they loved or them hated them. Girls often dressed like them at costume parties. Then they became everyone's favourite band to deride but a movie about Australian drag queens put them make on the map decades later although the Swedish rock underground was at boiling point with punk, pop rock and metal with many bands overflowing and receiving mainstream attention.

The Hyper Actives are from Stockholm, Sweden and make no bones about being a rock band with an album entitled "Rock 'n' Roll Lives Again". The band claim influences reaching from AC/DC, Motorhead, The Dead Boys, The Exploited, Johnny Winter and Johnny Burnette.Although the fast drumming pushes them towards punks and has earned their music lazy Ramones comparisons elsewhere on the Internet. Admittedly the Hyper Actives rock path is a well trodden one but sometimes the path chosen because it's a good route to go rather than because it's where everyone has chosen
"Dirty Punk Rocker", is punk rock with a gritty AC/DC charm


  Otherwise this album is just good time three chord rock with an emphasis on fun. There are moments where the band sounds like they're channelling Mötley Crüe's debut but instead of injecting heroin, The Hyper Activesadd a heavy dose of the more affordable substance, adrenalin. Garage and heavy rock meet in "Rock 'n' Roller Man" which can only be compared to MC5 arm wrestling with Led Zeppelin.


Whether they're claiming to be nobodies playing rock 'n' roll or that nobody's playing rock 'n' roll in the song, "Rock 'n' Roll Messiah" both work better than claiming to be the band that saves rock 'n' roll. This album is nothing other than the sound of a band having fun playing and because the band are obviously enjoying themselves. I bet this trio are great live.  I highly recommend checking out "Rock 'n' Roll Lives Again" on the band's soundcloud page.



3.5/5

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Nonsun - Good Old Evil



Who's your favourite Ukranian band? Can you even name a Ukranian band? I certainly can't.  But, come to think of it other than Pussy Riot, the 80's metal/hard rock band Kruiz are the only band I even know of from that part of the earth and up until a few months ago my knowledge of the Ukraine was incredibly limited. I did recently see a Sixty Minutes story on men taking wife finding package holidays. There's a bleakness that tends to come to mind when thinking about most Eastern European countries. However out of necessity, Nonsun are a two piece band with Bohdan Goatooth handling the vocals and playing both bass and guitar accompanied by Andriy Alpha on drums.

Nonsun describe their music as drone/doom/sludge/post-metal. Unsurprisingly after that description all four songs are of the lengthy variety with the shortest being just under six minutes.
Nonsun let the listener know what they're in for ,right from the word, go. Slow heavy riffs blast out with vocals that are huskier than Tuvan throat singing before turning into a wall of drone. Nonsun are aware that chops and changes are needed in lengthy songs and a little bit of more traditional metal creeps in for a few seconds but chased away a voice that sounds like a caveman who has chain-smoked for forty years accompanied by heavy turtle-paced riffs.  "Rain Have Mercy" fits the post-metal description like a glove only with deep vocals that are reminiscent of Laibach at their best.  These guys clearly aren't fans of brevity with a song entitled "Message of Nihil Carried By The Waves of The Big Bang".  The song is droning affair that almost settles into a sloooooow marching beat.  The result is hypnotism on the eardrums although there is a brief moment where vocals come into play and ruin the effect but then it's all ok again.

The band's name Nonsun is perfect as it not only makes it clear that these guys like drone but that the band's music is perfect for a cloudy winter day lacking any sunlight and they're certainly not a clone band.  As a demo, Good Old Evil is impressive and anyone with an interest in drone or sludge should definitely investigate.  The demo is available for free from Nonsun's bandcamp page.  I certainly look forward to hearing more from Nonsun.

3.5/5

Beastwars - IV

After over a year off for various reasons, we have returned solely because we wanted to review the new Beastwars album. I really w...