The Hounds Of Hasselvander
Ancient Rocks

At sixty years strong, in every sense, the former drummer of doom metal legends Pentagram and Raven (as well as on the last studio album of the seminal Blue Cheer) takes on this covers album accompanied by a small army of musicians, his "hounds", hence the name of the band "The Hounds Of Hasselvander", a name inspired, among other things, by a phrase from Julian Cope used in a review of Pentagram to describe the aggression of Joe’s guitars.

Yes, because it must be reiterated, Joe is a multi-instrumentalist, although primarily a drummer, who here takes on singing and guitar, leaving the drums to former Plasmatics member T.C. Tolliver, while on bass he is joined by another former Pentagram member Martin Swaney and on keyboards the Italian Paolo “Apollo” Negri.

The idea for the covers originated simultaneously with the writing of his second solo album, "The Ninth Hour" in 2011, but the work would only see the light of day a decade later, in 2016.

The selected tracks have the winning peculiarity of belonging to little-known bands (see obscure groups like Damnation Of Adam Blessing or Trooper) or being mostly lesser-known tracks by famous bands but certainly not mainstream. All while always remaining in the proto-metal realm between the mid-sixties and seventies. Joe himself states in the booklet that these artists represented for him the reason for the origin of his love for all metal.

So it won’t be hard to find in these ten tracks (plus two intros) all the excitement and passion for music that once captured the young Joe's mind, starting with a "Strange Movies" by the Troggs made even more vicious than the original by its "doomification", with a finale that smacks of paroxysmal orgiastic climax.

Not to forget, among the ups and downs that often characterize covers albums, the exhilarating discovery, for the writer, of "Primitive Man" (by the legendary Jerusalem), a track that conquers you and sweeps you away like a raging river, ready to bury you under an avalanche of riffs once you have surrendered to its power.

Moreover, in addition to the doom component, the other constant of the album is Joe's raspy voice, a perfect heir to the tarry Lemmy that, for example, materializes perfectly in the original blues of "Teachin' Blues" by Bob Seger to transform it into an amphetaminic and exhilarating stoner.

Less convincing as choices, however, are the two tracks that conclude the journey: "Come And Get It", a classic by Blue Cheer and "One Eyed Trouser, Snake Rumba" by Humble Pie. Perhaps because, being two very heavy rock-tanks, they end up making it tiresome to listen to towards the end.

It should be noted that, according to Hasselvander, the project was supposed to have a sequel with a second part of covers. We, after seven years, are still waiting.