You've got to be much more than an
AC/DC ripoff to last 27 years in the rock music business.
Maybe
Krokus's beefy rifferama is racing down the same highway to hell as our antipodean cousins, but the band can always be relied upon to cook up a feast of meaty, thick cut melodic hard rock.
Twin guitarists, Mandy Meier and Dominique Favez ensure that Von Arb isn't missed, grinding out barbed solos and thundering riffs, supplying the drive and fire behind an album chock full of wiry tunes and sturdy hooks.
Producer du jour Denis Ward wisely keeps it simple and direct, dirtying up the mix just enough to provide a sheen of bluesy authenticity.
In reality, if you strip away the veneer, this is probably much more of a melodic rock album than
Krokus have previously delivered.
The label have picked out '
Angel Of My Dreams' and '
Midnite Fantasy' as the album's star tracks, and yes, they are probably the most immediate offerings, but the combative, party hard rocking
'Too Wired To Sleep' and the smouldering
'Hangman' - a song with a distinctly grown up resonance - are immense, with deeply embedded hooks.
The balladic
'So Long' isn't a million miles away from
Whitesnake or, at a stretch, Fair Warning. In another age, you would say it's aimed at radio. It's a little more soft focus than the surrounding material and stands out accordingly.
'
Spirit Of The Night' and '
Midnite Fantasy' are your archetypal
Krokus tracks. Unfettered riffs lock onto solid rhythms like targeted weapons and never lose sight of their objective. Marc Storace's voice once depended on battering a song into submission. Now his scorched, scarred vocals carry a heavier weight of conviction and experience, clearly as capable of teasing out a neatly observant lyric as they are of steering a metalised, hard rock juggernaut.
'
No Risk, No Gain' and '
Justice' see the band navigating familiar territory, full of the usual landmarks. Bookended by these two tracks, the slowburning '
Take My Luv' again shows the new, adult face of the band, taking several plays to work its seductive charm. Like me, you may try to resist, but you'll fall just the same.
Arguably, '
Hellraiser' shows a mature side to the band only previously seen in half profile. Thankfully, it's now turned round to look us straight in the eye.
Written by
Brian Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Show all reviews by BrianRatingsBrian: 6.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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