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Rating: The Swedish band Hellacopters needs no introduction; they have been, along with other explosive bands like Gluecifer, Turbonegro, Puffball, among the best exponents of that Garage-Hard Rock revival that rose in the mid-nineties on the Scandinavian peninsula. In fact, I would add that, as far as I'm concerned, they are the band I appreciated the most from this scene. A career that lasted about fifteen years; founded and led by Nicke Andersson, who cut his teeth as a drummer with Entombed.
During this time, they have released seven albums and an endless amount of mini LPs, split albums, singles; a large but very disorganized discography. Fortunately, they had the brilliant idea of publishing a couple of anthological collections, with the apt result of organizing what was produced outside the long-distance works.
"The cream of the filth!" is the elegant title chosen by Nicke and his companions for this substantial anthology; collecting eighteen tracks for exactly one hour of total duration; sixty minutes of explosive energy. Musically, they don't invent anything new, it's fair to say; they draw heavily from the raw sound of Stooges, MC5, combining it with the bloodiest Hard-Glam of Kiss. They blend the resulting sound with a Punk attitude and a lethal energy that overwhelms everything; they leave no survivors in their devastating sound mix.
The seismic start is entrusted to "Thanks for Nothing": they hit hard right away with a track that gains power and dynamism as it progresses, leading to an energetic and exhilarating finale; the guitars destroy and lay down the law, becoming the absolute protagonists as in almost all the remaining songs. "Makes It Alright" is a lightning-fast nocturnal journey of short duration: they launch at a thousand miles per hour in a ride of pure Rock'n'Roll, thanks to a keyboard sound that joins the rest of the instruments. A real musical orgy!!
There is also time to slow down, to take a breath; and then it's only right to mention the cover of "Gimme Shelter". I don't think it's necessary to write the name of the band that wrote such a masterpiece. The Hellacopters treat it with the right respect, approaching the track with a delicacy never heard before in their career; however, in the end, they hit the gas. The voice suddenly becomes scratchy, and all the instruments are suitably mistreated: a part of the respect really goes down the drain.
But it's time to get back to hitting hard, to devastate; so they rely on the less than two minutes of "Tilt City". We are simply in the realm of Hardcore-Punk; an anthem to devastation. Like the Exploited but even angrier and more quarrelsome. Thus, we speedily reach the last track "Lowered Pentangles (Anything at All)" taken from a split-single with The New Bomb Turks. Seventies-drenched Hard-Rock, with a drugged pace in the narcoleptic final seconds.
There are also other covers; but here I stop...I GOT A RIGHT...
Ad Maiora.
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