Scandanavian Smak-Down

ABRAMIS BRAMA – “Smakar Sondag” CD ’09 (Transubstans, Swe) – If I didn’t know anything about Sweden’s ABRAMIS BRAMA going into this, a few things would dawn on me upon looking at the cover. 1) Each of the 5 guys has a beard, most of them long and skuzzy. That is a very good thing. 2) Four of the five guys has very long hair. The one who doesn’t, has a shaved head, which counts as long hair when at least 3 of the other guys have it. Keep up with the rules, folks. 3) Four of the five guys are wearing black. 4) There are 2 guitarists & one is playing a Flying V. That guy is left-handed, which looks bad-assed as hell. Etc. So, like I said, had I known nothing about ABRAMIS BRAMA beforehand, these would have all been excellent omens…except I already knew they kick butt. I just didn’t realize how much.

“Smakar Sondag” is ABRAMIS BRAMA’s 5th album and, people, let’s go right for the gonads here. That’s what AB has done, because this disc “smaks” their other platters (great as they are) right in the nuts. First of all, the band has upped the ante on a couple fronts. First, they replaced drummer Fredrik Jansson with Trisse of Grand Magus. Plus, they’ve added a 2nd guitarist, Rob Johansson from fellow Swedish maulers Backdraft. Shit, that’s like owning a baseball team and replacing your catcher with Joe Mauer, then throwing in Mark Teixeira for some spice in the middle of the lineup. With those…ahem…minor adjustments taken care of, ABRAMIS BRAMA proceed to plug in, turn up and blow their last (and quite good) album “Rubicon” into dust. Opener “Kylan Kommer Inifran” roars into action with a nasty, churning riff that would’ve made Mark Farner proud in 1971 and when Trisse kicks in with the cowbell, you’d be forgiven for becoming an instant fan-boy. The band is completely on fire from the very beginning & then at around 2:12, they do one of the things I always loved about ‘70’s bands that’s become a lost art. They launch into a massive rhythm shift and turn into a mega-organic freight train. Think Grand Funk “Live” and “Into The Sun” and you might be close. At the end of this fast section, the addition of new guitarist Johansson pays super-early dividends as he & Peo Andersson lock into a killer double lead take on the song’s melody theme.

In truth, I could easily go track-by-track through this cranium-crunching hard rock behemoth and write that much about each cut. Just like the best of those who went before ‘em (Sabs, Budgie, Purple, etc.) this crew make each song a stand-out event with it’s own personality. Check out the title cut, starting out like the bastard son of Mountain & Toad, the track then takes a couple second jazzy turn before jazz sax player Jonas Kullhammar steps in long enough for you to think you’re listening to a lost cut from the debut Chicago Transit Authority record. Listen to the way Kullhammer actually does a harmony lead with the guitarists on this before the song returns to it’s initial sledgehammer riff. (Lotsa hammers there, I know!). And before you think AB is nothing but mega-distortion and leaden axes, settle back for the cryptically entitled “N.E.J.” This features a sweet acoustic guitar figure reminiscent of Page on “Over The Hills & Far Away.” Not only that, the guest vox by Meldrum’s Moa Holmsten bring a Sandy Denny-esque folk feel to the number that goes down real nice. But don’t get the idea the ABRAMIS boys are going soft on us here! Sure, Ulf Torkelsson gets to flex his considerable pipes on the 7 minutes of haunting closer “Kommer Hem,” but listen to the band rage like hell on pillagers like “Forbjuden Frukt” or the mammoth 10+ minute epic “Med Ont Forsat.” This one has enough changes & ball-breaking heavy-ass guitars to give Budgie’s “Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman” a run for it’s money.

Like I said, it would be no problem whatsoever for me to go through this record song-by-song and write an entire paragraph about each entry. They’re all that good. But why listen to me ranting and raving about an album that you really just need to buy now and listen to at least 100 times before tomorrow, then call in sick from work and listen to a hundred more times. About the only things I can add that make this damn thing even cooler are: 1) The lyrics are all in Swedish, which rules ‘cause I absolutely love it when a foreign band says “fuck you” to English & sings in their own tongue and 2) The album cover, which rules and you can see above. Buy or fucking die. Swedish Meat Ball Crusher

http://www.abramisbrama.com/
www.myspace.com/abramisbrama
www.myspace.com/transubstans
http://www.recordheaven.net/


MANGROVE – “Endless Skies” CD ’09 (Transubstans, Swe) – Funny thing in this band’s bio: the band includes 2 members of Sideburn and they’re recommended to fans of, among others, Mustache. No beards mentioned and perhaps that’s why they’re not nearly as good as Abramis Brama. Ok, maybe that’s not totally fair, as there aren’t many units handing down an aural beat-down like “Smakar Sondag” these days. Seriously, MANGROVE are a 3-piece and they do a decent job of powering through 3-5 minute stoner-hard rock anthems like “Universal Time” & “Endless Skies” here. Guitarist Magnus Jernstrom comes up with some cool Hendrix-y/Trower-ish riffs and licks here. A couple minor gripes are the repeated practice of suddenly adding a guitar track here & there, obviously for dramatic purposes, but it makes it kinda irritating to have to listen to the record with your hand on the volume knob. Secondly, by the time you get to about the 5th track, something starts making you think “Didn’t we hear this riff a couple tunes ago?” Still, MANGROVE rock pretty hard on a lot of this record and make me interested to hear what they’ve got in store next. Partly Sunny

www.myspace.com/mangrovesweden
NOTE: URL’s for Record Heaven & Transubstans follow Abramis review above.