Before I even knew what the whole rock revival scene was, I was a Gluecifer fan. I remember seeing their CDs at the local independent record store and thinking the name was hilarious and the discs looked cool. Being a cool shop, they let me listen to their stuff before I bought it and that’s why I picked up the rock classic “Head to Head Boredom.” Their past few releases have been weak...bad music all together. For the past few years, a new Gluecifer album meant poor quality songs and lousy music.
This, I suppose, is the band’s return to form, but it just feels too late. There are so many great rock bands out now that the market is really saturated. Too many of their peers who come out of Sweden have really surpassed them in quality, mainly “Demons” however even the fairly weak recent Hellacopters material just sounds more relevant than this.
As far as what the band sounds like, this could be on Gearhead. That’s a pretty good description in and of itself. But since this isn’t one of those sites that has 50 word reviews, I’ll give you a bit more.
Fast rock and roll, that is reminiscent of The Stooges I reckon...this band comes out of Norway and have the familiar Scandinavian rock sound. Not as poppy as The Hives, not as laid back as The Hellacopters...I’d have to say the closest band in sound is definitely “Demons” and I’m sorry, but “Demons” does this better.
The songs aren’t bad, but if this is the album I heard many moons ago when I first checked them out I can't verify that I would have felt compelled to drop my hard earned cash on the counter.
I hate writings reviews like this because as much as I like it, I just don’t care. It’s not bad, the production is great, the songs are pretty good though not exceptional, and the whole package looks cool. I’m not saying it’s not a quality release, it is...but as a fan for about ten years, it just feels like too little too late. I want something to grab me and this just doesn’t.
There’s so much music out there that I care about, that I love or that I hate, that this sort of album really pisses me off. It sits on my shelf and collects dust...I don’t listen to it because I’d rather listen to the split with The Hellacopters, but I don’t want to sell it because it really isn’t bad.
There is something about this that I can glow about...the artwork for this is gorgeous. It has a glossy black background with silver art and writing. The booklet of this is one of the sharpest I've seen in a long time...I'm not even sure how to describe it, there's almost a hologram feel. Glossy paper, with a few black on black effects...it's very dark and well done. Fans of album artwork would most likely be happy buying this for the art alone.
Maybe in a few years, I’ll come out and say I was wrong, that this is a great album and I was a fool for being on the fence. I can’t say it’s bad, and I’ll bet that those folks who don’t have an attachment to the band and like rock, will automatically love this. I just feel like the last time I was blown away by them was when I was 16...maybe I’m harder to impress, or maybe I’m too stuck in the past...whatever it is, I’m happy with the old records and the new Hellacopters.
I’ll give you the metal comparison...this album is what many people think of Pantera’s “Reinventing the Steel.” It’s not bad, but it’s missing something. The wait was too long, the fans moved on, people just weren’t excited...it was the band we knew and loved but let’s face it...you put that album on and ten minutes in, you’re reaching for “Far Beyond Driven.” Years later, I can admit it's a great album that holds its own, but at the time I just didn't care.
