The hard rock/metal band Sideburn took their first steps in 1997 and I’ve been sitting here today listening to their fourth album “IV Monument”. Often their music is put in the stoner metal and doom metal genres, but as I’m quite lost in those areas, I find my references elsewhere. And there are plenty of them to find.

In the first place I feel the strong influence from Black Sabbath, not only for the heavy riffs but also for the wonderful retro sound with warm crunchy guitars, a real pleasure for the ears. This is far away from modern overloaded loudness-optimised productions with dynamics that give them plenty of room to show their brilliance in. There’s quite a span between the songs, ranging from the doom-sounding funeral procession in “The Last Day” to the Led Zeppelin-vibing ballad “Silverwing” to pure classic melodic metal. Jani Kataja’s vocals are brilliant and introduce a bluesy feeling which sometimes reminds me of Ian Gillan and sometimes of Glenn Hughes. I love the guitar playing as well and it’s not often I hear such a varied and creative playing on hard rock albums, sometimes with an improvised feeling which makes it feel even more alive. To sum it up: a fantastic hard rock album.

Sideburn on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Rara

I’ll continue with a peek at Magnus Bergman’s song releases from Summer. “Ölandsidyll” and “Långt Härifrån” are two of them with his earthy Swedish country rock vibing sound.

Magnus Bergman’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Soundcloud

Axel Wikner is 16 years old and produces dance music, mostly house but also some odd genres like moombahton. Not my cup of tea usually, but I felt for a diversion today. Axel started playing around with music software last year, but after he discovered that his music was being played on clubs it took a more serious direction. He has now released a couple of singles and the EP “Modern Talking”. Here’s the latest song, “Sub Bomb”.

Axel Wikner on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Soundcloud

Here’s another familiar face from the blog, who’s also a quite productive artist. It’s Nomy, who released the album “Free Fall” in Summer. It’s a rather mixed album where I recognize him from both now and then; the drama, the melodies, hard rock, punk vibes, pop influences and that Nomyan brute force, where a song like “Put Him Out” just knocks me over from the first chord.

What I wrote last time is very much still valid and Nomy races on like he uses to, with two album underway now. Here’s the starting track from the album “Freakshow Part 3”, which connects to the album “Welcome to my freakshow” from 2009.

Nomy’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Rara

Freakshow Part 3

The productive Conny Olivetti released his tenth album “Probing the Sonic Heritage” this Summer, and like with earlier albums I wonder over the change of scenes from album to album, the creativity and the details. I guess the title refers to his sources of inspiration, but even if I can sense some of them and note a direct reference here and there, it’s Conny’s own soundscape I enter.

And this time it feels dark, from the suggestively mysterious to the ominous to the direct frightening as in songs like “Die Hüter des Gesetzes” and “Room 13”. The filmic feeling is even more prominent this time, like if the songs are small films in themselves, constantly in movement and changing, enhanced by new details and voice samplings. An album that demands some attention from the listener and which certainly deserves it.

Conny Olivetti’s site – on Facebook – on Bandcamp