The Hellacopters
By the Grace of God

THE REVIEW

Let's start from the end, let's start from the rating.

In numbers, it's a 7.5 which I am very happy to round up to four stars.

Fifth studio work for the Swedes; a seasoned and tested crew always in the hands of captain Nicke Andersson (who distinguished himself at the beginning of his career as the drummer for Entombed).

A successful album but with some flaws, much more oriented towards Hard-Rock compared to the first two albums where the Punk-Garage explosiveness dominated every single second. With those raw recordings made in just a handful of sessions.

In By The Grace of God the sound "cools down," losing much of that brazenness I've just highlighted.

It's not an album that disappointed me, far from it; I have the entire disorganized discography of the Hellacopters and I could not speak ill of them in any way.

But I preferred them proud and scoundrelly, with that tearing, damned and evil sonic wall between Stooges, MC5, and Motorhead.

Excessively clean recordings in my opinion; of course, the guys have also grown from a technical point of view. Greater cohesion, less brute force.

Even Nicke's voice is more controlled, less streetwise, less nocturnal.

The title track that opens the work is a very respectable calling card. A few piano notes are followed by a simple guitar riff and the song unfolds, sailing confidently and peremptorily. Various choruses, six-string thrusts, a nice central solo, and a final where they push perfectly.

The rowdy and festive rock'n'roll of Better Than You which, together with the equally fast It's Good But It Just Ain't Right and The Exorcist, represents the episodes most connected to the band's roaring past. Carry Me Home glaringly recalls the best Kiss with that restrained yet pleasantly effective pace; it proceeds like this until the end of the collection, thirteen songs in a little over forty minutes duration.

They close with Pride where, drawing inspiration from the title, they want to reiterate with the utmost pride of still being the best representatives of that musical movement that developed in the Scandinavian land in the mid-nineties. A scene shared with Gluecifer, Turbonegro, Backyard Babies, The Flaming Sideburns, Puffball, etc...etc...

I read with pleasure in the recording notes that Lars Goran Petrov has joined the choirs: does anyone remember him? I hope so...LEFT HAND PATH...

Ad Maiora.