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It is becoming increasingly difficult for a debut band to create compositions that aren't derivative. By now, the refrain about there being seven notes and that music no longer invents anything new is clear to everyone. Those who write reviews then enjoy tearing down the latest hype band, WolfMother? Stuff we've already heard... Black Mountain? Progressive in small doses with riffs stolen from Black Sabbath.
Then these Alberta Cross appear, and seeing the name, you wonder if they're just the usual singer-songwriter with a voice close to orgasm and all their strictly unplugged guitar embellishments. For the record, Alberta Cross is a quintet founded by Swede Petter Ericson Stakee (vocals and guitar) and Englishman Terry Wolfers (bass).
Okay, let's get the show started: Track 1: "Song Three Blues"... and what a drag this blues is, I wonder. But then the voice... damn, it reminds me of The Band or Neil Young... and the blues is more like a sick thing with delightfully alt-country riffs and awkward rock. Let's move on... with "Atx" things get serious, a sharp slide guitar halfway between Floyd and Radiohead from the "The Bends" period... damn, this is getting serious. And to testify to it, there's also a performance of the same proudly featured among YouTube videos. "Taking Control" has something of the Smashing... but I don't want to ruin the surprise of discovering them on your own, I'll just say the base mood has American roots references, someone, to always recall those who love comparisons, associates them with the Black Crowes or the tradition of classic rock. I would add that the European flavor can be sensed, that the band shows they know how to mix things up, creating a robust sound, with chiaroscuro and melodic openings, a mix that pleases both the nostalgic and those looking for new life in rock, a rock that, little by little, with now well-established realities like the Racounters, Wilco, Kings of Leon.
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