Aural Fixations

THE HELLACOPTERS
High Visibility
(Psychonaut/Universal/Gearhead)
The explosion of great rock from Scandinavia has been a wonder and a pleasure to behold. While the region, especially Sweden, has produced more than its share of awesome prog, metal and pop bands in the past decade, the area is quickly becoming synonymous with high-octane, testicles-to-the-wall rock & roll, at least in the minds of connoisseurs. For the Nordic tribes at least, there's little difference between punk and classic rock, between the Sex Pistols and Black Sabbath, the Stones and the Stooges. If it's loud and sports a great guitar riff, it's rock. The list of Scandinavian bands inspired by both the MC5 and Kiss seems endless: Gluecifer, the Backyard Babies, the Demons, Turbonegro, the Peepshows, Maryslim, et fucking cetera. To say the rock scene in the frozen wastelands is healthy is an understatement.

But the best of the lot is the Hellacopters. The Stockholm-based band grew from a side project of members of the Backyard Babies and death metal monster the Entombed into a best-selling, Swedish Grammy-winning rock titan. The quintet has made inroads into the States, headlining sold-out club shows everywhere and sharing stages with Iggy Pop, Smashing Pumpkins, Beck and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They've even done a European arena tour with Kiss. Along the way they've release a trio of highly acclaimed albums, from the raw, stuck-in-the-garage Supershitty to the Max to the more polished Payin' the Dues and Grande Rock, plus a handful of EPs and an uncountable number of singles. Along the way the 'copters have consistently improved its writing skills and played out as much as possible, becoming a world-class rock & roll band in the process.

High Visibility, the band's fourth full-length record, is their best album yet, the masterpiece they've been leading up to for their entire career. There are three main reasons for the disk's excellence. The first is purely the sound of the album. With an ace production job by Swedish underground Svengali Chips K. (the Nomads, etc.) and a mix by super producer David Bianco (the Posies, the Damned, etc.), the tracks fairly leap off the disk, and the clean sound does nothing to lessen the impact of the group's high energy attack. The second reason is the songs themselves. Leader Nick Royale (né Andersson) has honed his craft with every album, polishing the melodies and progressions without diluting the power one iota. Singalong choruses and memorable hooks abound, and the combination of might meeting melody is just too damn satisfying to resist. (more)

Stagestruck

MOTÖRHEAD/MORBID ANGEL/SPEEDEALER/TODAY IS THE DAY
@The Back Room, Austin, TX; April 12, 2001
Anyone with only a vague familiarity with the metal world would think this a typical package tour of underground metal bands. Those with a somewhat deeper knowledge, however, will realize what an odd match this is. Putting the MC5/Ramones/Chuck Berry-informed heavy rock & roll of Motörhead on tour with the staunchly traditional death metal of Morbid Angel and the avant thrash of Today Is the Day seems like an oil/water scenario waiting to happen. While in a strictly musical sense the bands had little to do with each other, the crowd, for the most part, embraced it all.

It was a good thing the audience was so tolerant, since Today Is the Day played music so ugly only its mother would love it. Earnestly performing a cross between heavy-as-hell death metal and Yoko Onoish avant garde theatrics, the trio screamed, thrashed and whined its way through what seemed like an intolerably long set of demi-songs. While it was undoubtedly cathartic for the band, it seemed insular, despite its volume. One got the feeling that the trio would have been just as happy to play these tunes in its garage away from prying eyes. This was either self-expression in its purest form or deliberately off-putting bullshit. The crowd was a bit baffled, unsure of when one song ended and another began, but applauded politely just the same.

Speedealer, the only set of Texans on the bill, tried to rock the house after TItD's desultory eardrum shredding, but couldn't quite do it. Originally scheduled to open the show, the quartet played maybe a half-dozen songs before it was ushered offstage. Too bad, as its Black Sabbath-meets-Black Flag metalcore has great promise. But since the band had to quit the stage just as it was getting warmed up, it never had the chance to live up to it. (more)

Album reviews of new music by:

Greg Brown

The Iowa-based folkie is an immediately appealing vocalist with a personable, craggy baritone and an expert songwriter equally at home with the political and the personal, the sensual and the spiritual. (more)

Fine China

Fine China may come from the arid desert state of Arizona, but one listen and you'll swear it comes from mid-80s England. (more)

Grand Magus

The latest in a long line of contemporary Swedish power rock bands, Grand Magus is more classicist than most of its brethren on its self-titled debut. (more)

Okkervil River

Austin's Okkervil River straddles the line between post-80s indie rock and the new wave of 90s roots rock on its second record Don't Fall in Love With Everyone You See. (more)

The Josh Roseman Unit

No jazz purist, Roseman is just as happy covering classic rock and pop as he is jazz, and his impish sense of humor prevents the onset of either eyebrow-arching condescension or doctor's office Muzak. (more)

The Supersuckers/Electric Frankenstein

Heavy rock label The Music Cartel has inaugurated its new Splitsville series with this disk, featuring Seattle's Supersuckers and New Jersey's Electric Frankenstein. Both bands play a lean and mean version of rock that drinks deeply from bottles of punk, metal and high-octane rock & roll, so this is a good match. (more)

Tiamat

Embracing melody as never before, frontman Johan Edlund and his latest crew emphasize power chord hooks and Edlund's dramatic baritone over extreme heaviness and dark Gothic atmosphere. (more)

And explore the refreshed sounds of the Cryan' Shames.