Release Date: April 22, 2015
Released By: Gain Music Entertainment
Genre: Sleaze Rock
Track Listing:
1.Don’t Mean Shit
2. Party Til I’m Gone
3. The Cemetery
4. Off With Their Heads
5. Fly
6. The Ocean
7. Touch The Sky
8. Growing Old
9. Glue
10. Messed Up For Sure
Line Up:
Jocke Berg – Vocals
Vic Zino – Guitars
Martin Sandvik – Bass
Adde Andreasson – Drums
The fine purveyors of sleaze rock are back with their tenth studio album. And the good news, the Gothenburg boys, now in their 21st year of existence, are as mean and salacious as always. The madness opens with the bluntly titled Don’t Mean Shit, a demonic cocktail of raw power and fearsome attitude. Jocke Berg’s robust vocals deliver with every note on a song laced with anger.
If ever you want to hear a song that properly sums up Hardcore Superstar, give Party Til I’m Gone a spin. The stirring riff and hefty chorus tied with glam rock elements make this belter a winner on every level. The classy flamingo guitar intro to The Cemetery, as you would expect, erupts into a cacophony of mayhem with a typically brash stomping vibe. Off With Their Heads probably contains every ingredient that makes up the HCS formula, brassy lyrics, a throwback 80’s chorus hinged with Vic Zino’s melodic guitar tones. That continues on Fly, a monumental track that unearths magical memories of Motley Crue’s Home Sweet Home. This song probably won’t be played in 50 years time, but it deserves to be revered today.
For a track that opens with some haunting bass tones from Martin Sandvik, then an excellent Zino metal riff, The Ocean becomes a let down. The feeble verses lead into a sadly lacklustre chorus on a song promising a lot more. Touch The Sky meanwhile promises and wholeheartedly delivers, HCS don’t just specialise in extroverted sleaze rock, they do the dark and moody stuff with the same results. And just to completely mess with your minds, they dip their wicks in a bit of prog too. Listening to the intro to Growing Old, you could be forgiven for thinking you were spinning some classic Emerson, Lake & Palmer. The haunting futuristic keyboards add a real touch of class to a song that compels from the start, and to it’s hell raising finish.
Glue, the first single release off the album, is a ready wrapped pressie for riff lovers. The powerhouse of a lick dominates this track with slick precision. This song was released to the public last November and may have got lost in the Christmas market scramble. Hands down the best thing on the album and should be re released when this album hits the public. Messed Up For Sure closes things out with a bang, an audacious little number containing an interesting interlude that unleashes a mind bending finale.
I have to say for a band that has been treading the hard rock boards for over two decades now, and delivering quality music, their star remains lit, but warrants a much brighter glow.
Written by: Brian Boyle
Ratings: Brian 8/10