hard rock
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About twenty years ago, I bought my very first CD. It was the debut by Skid Row and I played time and time again. Those riffs, those vocals, those melodies and those drums, all were awesome and all gave me a lot of energy. Since that day, thousands of albums, bands and genre followed. I visited the blissfull heavens of modern classical and ambient music and I visited the putrid underground where grindcore, black metal and noise roam. In my mission to discover as music music as possible I've encountered absolutely amazing stuff and I clearly found out what I didn't like. But, to conclude this otherwise pretty useless opening paragraph: I do like this album.
Bear Bone Company hails from the Örebro region in Sweden. The band was formed in 2012 in order to create some dirty rock 'n' roll and that's exactly what this trio does. That's also why I mentioned Skid Row at the beginning of this review. In fact, musically, Bear Bone Company has little to do with those Americans but as far as energy-providing is concerned, this trio is definitely qualified. This is uplifting rock and hard rock music with enough power to set festival tents on fire.
The album opens in full-force with the high tempo rocker 'Fade', followed by the brilliant, well, rocker, 'Kiss & Tell' and the quite melodic 'Don't Belong'. By now, bands like Pantera, Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, Poison, Kiss, Motorhead and Metallica have already passed the referencing-era of my brain. To be honest, at this point in this album, that region is the only one that works properly. The rest is headbanging like a madman and singing along with these choruses.
Vocals range from nice clean singing voices to raw, grungy parts and at some point even to high pitched shrieks in 'Down In Flames' and 'Hangin''. The latter made me watch my speakers in disbelief for a moment. It gave the whole a glam-rock edge, something I didn't really expect. Yet, since those shrieks, the glam rock element remains, hidden beneath a shroud of dirty rock 'n' roll. Maybe I was correct to mention Skid Row in the beginning of this review after all.
The band also explains the lyrics, and those liner notes are actually quite interesting to read. They range from 'It's pretty easy to sing along with this one' over drinking songs to a doleful story about 'Burkitt Lymphoma', an agressive medical condition. That last one mad me a bit sad actually. But no worries, soon after, I was rocking my ass off again. Besides, this particularly story ends well.
Gradually, as the album continues, more and more names come to mind, including Machine Head, Faith No More, Alice In Chains and Ozzy. Apparently, Bear Bone Company have collected the best elements from decades of rock history and blended them into a massive, energetic and well varied sound. Raw power ('Drinkin Time') is alternated with more emotional, almost melancholic parts ('Way Back Home'). That alone is quite an accomplishment if you ask me.
There are still several songs that I didn't mention but believe me, they're equally great as the ones I did write about. After listening to this album a few times, I actually regard this as high as I regard the Skid Row debut I was writing about earlier. If you are a father (or mother) and your son or daughter asks you what 'rock music' sounds like, let them listen to this. This will provide them with a cohesive history, a foundation from where they can further explore the wonderful world of guitar music.
Or in short: Damn, this rocks!!!
Serge
Bear Bone Company hails from the Örebro region in Sweden. The band was formed in 2012 in order to create some dirty rock 'n' roll and that's exactly what this trio does. That's also why I mentioned Skid Row at the beginning of this review. In fact, musically, Bear Bone Company has little to do with those Americans but as far as energy-providing is concerned, this trio is definitely qualified. This is uplifting rock and hard rock music with enough power to set festival tents on fire.
The album opens in full-force with the high tempo rocker 'Fade', followed by the brilliant, well, rocker, 'Kiss & Tell' and the quite melodic 'Don't Belong'. By now, bands like Pantera, Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, Poison, Kiss, Motorhead and Metallica have already passed the referencing-era of my brain. To be honest, at this point in this album, that region is the only one that works properly. The rest is headbanging like a madman and singing along with these choruses.
Vocals range from nice clean singing voices to raw, grungy parts and at some point even to high pitched shrieks in 'Down In Flames' and 'Hangin''. The latter made me watch my speakers in disbelief for a moment. It gave the whole a glam-rock edge, something I didn't really expect. Yet, since those shrieks, the glam rock element remains, hidden beneath a shroud of dirty rock 'n' roll. Maybe I was correct to mention Skid Row in the beginning of this review after all.
The band also explains the lyrics, and those liner notes are actually quite interesting to read. They range from 'It's pretty easy to sing along with this one' over drinking songs to a doleful story about 'Burkitt Lymphoma', an agressive medical condition. That last one mad me a bit sad actually. But no worries, soon after, I was rocking my ass off again. Besides, this particularly story ends well.
Gradually, as the album continues, more and more names come to mind, including Machine Head, Faith No More, Alice In Chains and Ozzy. Apparently, Bear Bone Company have collected the best elements from decades of rock history and blended them into a massive, energetic and well varied sound. Raw power ('Drinkin Time') is alternated with more emotional, almost melancholic parts ('Way Back Home'). That alone is quite an accomplishment if you ask me.
There are still several songs that I didn't mention but believe me, they're equally great as the ones I did write about. After listening to this album a few times, I actually regard this as high as I regard the Skid Row debut I was writing about earlier. If you are a father (or mother) and your son or daughter asks you what 'rock music' sounds like, let them listen to this. This will provide them with a cohesive history, a foundation from where they can further explore the wonderful world of guitar music.
Or in short: Damn, this rocks!!!
Serge
