Mando Diao
Ode To Ochrasy

THE REVIEW

Who are Mando Diao?? Boh, you might say. Those guys from "Sheep Dog"??.. oh yes, now I remember, the ones with Beatles-style hair singing "YEAH YEAH YEAH".

Exactly, it's them, the best Swedish rock n roll quartet on the scene (and don't say it's the Hives for God's sake) who with their debut album "Bring 'Em In" (2002) achieved some success, although not as much as they deserved. After "Hurricane Bar" (2004), for which, to my disdain, there's no review (not good, not good), here comes "Ode to Ochrasy"... but come on!!! Premise: I love quirky and original reviews, but for an album like this, it's worth being traditionalist, so I embark (is that how you write it???) on a detailed track-by-track analysis, to do justice to the most underrated Brit Rock group of the contemporary era.

1. "Welcome Home, Luc Robitaille" and the show begins, a nice start, not too violent but not too banal either.. the chorus is great and the jaunty verse immediately makes you feel like you haven't wasted 17 Euros. But it's not over yet.

2. "Killer Kaczynski" stunning song!!! Full Mando Diao style. Nothing to say, probably the most energetic and maybe the best track of the whole album. This time Bjorn sings and brings out all his voice in an extremely powerful shouted chorus. The song is played very raw and it can't help but get you excited, especially since the next track is...

3. "Long Before Rock n Roll" the first single, sounds very Libertines style (and sorry if that's not much!!!) thanks also to the alternating vocals of Bjorn and Gustaf, and the result is truly perfect, very beautiful. Download the video as soon as possible.

4. "The Wildfire" from the Libertines we move to the Strokes, but this time the result is inferior to the previous three tracks... still sufficient.

5. "You Don't Understand Me" here again, we let loose, nice lyrics, nice music, nice, nice, nice the almost out-of-tune final high note from the singer, very very rock.

6. "Tony Zoulias" another great track, better than the previous one, excellent guitar riffs, catchy chorus in full Mando Diao style... yes they haven't changed an inch... thank God.

7. "Amsterdam" here it calms down a bit, even if the song is still beautiful, but maybe the lack of an impactful chorus makes me snub the track a bit.

8. "TV n Me" here instead we're definitely on track, a great song, great energy, rhythm that echoes a bit of the 80s dance but only for the expert ears ANTHOLOGY PIECE!!!

9. "Josephine" ah ah ah ah cute, but nothing more, they could have done without it.

10. "The New Boy" beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, slow, delicate, catchy, in short, the new "Next to be Lowered". (the new what?? you might say... 'ignorants!!)

11. "Morning Paper Dirt" here it falls a bit into the familiar, a track that doesn't leave much of an impact.

12. "Good Morning, Herr Horst" one word... "Coral", clarification "THE BEST OF THE CORAL", a genius song.

It closes with "Song for Aberdeen" (13) and "ochrasy" (14), the first pleasant and maybe a bit experimental?? That still maintains a nice rhythm even though it practically has no chorus, and the second an acoustic ballad that closesa great album of pure rock n roll.

It might not be the most beautiful of Mando's, but it really deserves it. It surely has a more current sound than the first 2 albums (which were a little more 60s revival) here they take the best of the modern rock scene and if you love this genre, don't miss this album.

Then if you don't believe me... FUCK FOREVER!!!