On a sunny summer day at this years Roskilde festival I decided to checkout a band with the silly name
Turbonegro. They had created some commotion before the festival and it seemed like a lot of people were looking forward to their concert. My curiosity drew me to the concert and to my surprise the
Green tent was packed with 18.000 People, but I luckily got inside to enjoy a fabulous rock concert. I immediately surrendered to their mix of 80's Hard Rock/Punk and great stage presence dressed in ugly stage clothes. How come I never heard of
Turbonegro before?
Norway's
Turbonegro has been on hiatus for 4 years and "Scandinavian Leather" is their comeback- and fifth album. The album is recorded in ABBA's famous Polar Studios and especially the sound of the guitars is killer. Sometimes the lead guitar sounds oversteered and its just part of the charm of listening to
Turbonegro.
Punk bands originally inspired
Turbonegro, which is obvious when listening to the irresistible track
Turbonegro must be destroyed.
Remain Untamed,
Train of Flesh and album opener
Wipe It 'til it Bleeds are all in your face punk rockers.
Wipe It 'til it Bleeds has a melodic middle play, where Beatles is the closest reference and overall "Scandinavian Leather" has a lot of melodic redeeming elements.
Album highlight is
Sell your Body (to the Night) with its great riff and entertaining lyrics about selling your body. The chorus gets you hooked immediately and I remember humming the chorus the rest of Roskilde festival after witnessing
Turbonegro's show. An atmospheric intro leads to another highlight cleverly titled
Fuck The World. Fuck The World smokes with atmosphere. The song starts off with a great emotional guitar intro and a string section just adds another dimension to the song. Great bass line drives the song and lyrically you cannot help sing-along to the primitive chorus with a huge smile on your face.
Fans of U2's Bono and Sting would drop dead when they read the lyrics. These lyrics won't win any prizes, but they are quite entertaining and deal with subjects like sex (often-gay references) and
Turbonegro's urge to wear denim clothes. The title
Fuck the World should be understood pure sexually.
Overall this is an album that entertains the listener. Not everything has to be so serious in the world of
Turbonegro. A singer that names himself "Hank Von Helvete" and a gay looking guitarist named "Euroboy" characterize what this record is about quite well. Have fun and enjoy the record.
Written by
Michael Monday, September 29, 2003
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