Mont Blanc pens, Aston Martins, Post-It Notes: some things just never go out of fashion. And it’s the same when it comes to rock. There’s been a large proportion of every generation over the last thirty-odd years that can’t help but get goose bumps at the prospect of a leather-trousered power chord or finger-mangling riff. And, in the right hands, these tools can express all the righteous anger of a pre-menstrual rhinoceros. It’s no wonder, then, that Danish quintet Epicenter are going down a storm across the Continent with their own brand of unashamedly old school metal. If the three tracks here are anything to go by, the leather-studded heart of rock is alive, well and beating ten-to-the-dozen.
“Gasoline” makes for an impressive opening salvo. Judas Priest, AC/DC and Iron Maiden are all overhauled and re-energised in this pummelling concoction of nervous energy, supersize riffs and heroic vocals from frontman Jackie Petersen. Never knowingly understated for a second, the track lives up to its name and ignites with a frenzy of high-octane high jinks. Perfect for any wedding disco.
“True Spirit” takes things into a darker, grittier dimension. The guitars are dirtier and the tension builds with every bar through a glowering, gloomy middle-eight before Armageddon arrives in the shape of a volcanic metal meltdown that sounds like The Cult on too much Sunny D.
Finally, “Nothing At All” opts to take a different route to sensory annihilation. The slapping, bluesy intro could be an amped-up Creedence Clearwater Revival, while a bit more light and shade from Petersen helps to evoke the subtler heviosity of Soundgarden, Alice In Chains or the Screaming Trees. Needless to say, though, by the time the whole thing comes to an end, there won’t be an un-banged head in the house.
Review from Overplay (UK):
3/25/2014 7:09:34 PM