Wow! Surprise! Usually Denmark only produces wimpy Euro pop bands or boring mid-tempo acts.
Switchblade hails from Copenhagen, Denmark and plays full-blown sleaze Rock founded in the 80's.
Bassist Carsten Olsen is the only familiar name along with Ken Anthony. However, Ken is known for writing about Glam and via his contribution to Metalized magazine, he introduced yours truly to a lot of the Sunset Strip bands of the 80's. The 21 years old guitarist Thomas Lock and drummer Frankie are both newcomers on the Danish scene.
It sounds like a win/win situation, since my heart beats for 80's bands. However, I do have mixed feelings about
Switchblade's debut album.
On the positive note, Thomas Lock's guitar playing is amazing. His crunchy guitar is all over the album and his riffs sound very tasteful. The guitar sound is true to the 80's style, which was an era where music was about having a good time and it was allowed to play extended guitar solos. Locks shines on
Down and Dirty, which is founded on some simple Poison/AC/DC like chords, but Locks really spices the song with plenty of entertaining soloing. The solo on album closer
Hot Rockin' is fabulous and overall there is plenty of great guitar playing to be found on "
Switchblade Serenade".
On a very negative note, "
Switchblade Serenade" is overshadowed by horrible vocals from Ken Anthony. His voice is fragile and the heavy accent doesn't help the overall impression. Ken's vocal talent is very limited, which is best (or most horrified) displayed on
Live it Up and
Smokin Stacks where his vocals sound terrible. Especially on the two mentioned songs his vocals sound flat when ending the verse lines - I don't think Ken got any singing lessons and he needs to recover his breath. I am not sure whether to laugh or cry when hearing the vocals - unfortunately enjoy is not a possibility with Ken's horrible vocals. The best vocals are on the bluesy ballad
Fade, since the slow tempo suits Ken's vocals better.
Switchblade also needs to work more with their backing vocals, which sound very amateurish exemplified on
Down and Dirty.
Switchblade needs more powerful backing vocals to support the weak lead vocals and again please work on the accent on the choir as well.
When we finally get a Danish band in the genre I love, it bugs me that
Switchblade is not consistent. Hopefully
Switchblade will go on the road to gain some live experience and become well played together.
The main characters in
Switchblade are definitely the great guitarist and upcoming star Thomas Lock, who also is responsible for the song writing plus Ken Anthony on vocals. Thomas Lock's guitar playing gets a straight 8. Ken Anthony's vocals get the grade 0. The vocals and accent annoys me to the extent that I cannot enjoy
Switchblade at all. The music is good and if the vocals were re-recorded it would be a good CD and then Ken Anthony could manage the band like he has done with other acts - the old proverb is so true, cobbler stick to your last.
The song writing is pretty good for a debut album. The final grade for "
Switchblade Serenade" must be the average mark of Ken Anthony and Thomas Lock's performances.
Written by
Michael Friday, July 23, 2004
Show all reviews by MichaelRatingsMichael: 4/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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