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Hard rock is one of the most static and monotonous genres that exist in music: records pass through time without losing a gram of relevance, not so much due to intrinsic virtue, but because of the genre's inability to renew itself. Take Danko Jones - just an example, fans don't get mad right away - and compare it with any hard rock group from the 80s, and play spot the differences.
Nothing is born from diamonds, and nothing is born from hard rock except more hard rock. That said, let's move on to ours. A brilliant example of how changing latitude does not change the product, while remaining exceedingly fascinating. The four in question are Danish, and they operate between the 80s and 90s, although they are still around today. We mention them not for universal merit, but for two reasons: one, the fact of doing hard rock in a land, Scandinavia, which in a few years would devote itself, body and soul, to death metal, is already an indication of courage. In this sense, ours are counter-trend, and I love to death those who have the courage to go against the grain, even if in this case going against means simply standing still.
Secondly, the style: and here I must say that ours have something to say, putting a Danish-flavored asterisk next to the word hard rock. Something that earned them international, even planetary recognition, the album sold so much that it made them dizzy. Anyway, solid, granitic, essential hard rock, without any kind of virtuosity, but resulting from a harmony made of an impeccably hard-rock guitar, indebted to the Young school, of a bass played incredibly on two strings (are those enough or can I only play those, the Hamletian question), of a drum without peaks, but a simple vehicle of power and cadence, and of a voice that, yes, truly stands out, stretched just enough, without smudges and excesses. A nice little formula that offers ten songs produced with a mold (pure hard rock, then) but each valid and engaging: from the much-decorated Sleeping my day away to ZCMI, from Rim of hell to Overmuch, the album can be listened to with lightness and grace, without any kind of thought involved, it flows, in short, and this is a great advantage: if the album flows and you don't think while it's playing, almost canceling the essential function of listening with ears but opening up to the unconscious, then it is a work well done. So, if you've finished listening to Mayhem and feel a bit weighed down, play this next and it's like a digestif.
A note for a future debate: I, very personally, in the structure of some of their songs, made of a very soft verse whispered by bass and drums with barely hinted guitars and then an explosive chorus, see something of grunge. Could that be too much?
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