Misth, hailing from Stockholm, released a sparkling debut rock album during Spring, which is definitely worth checking out if you like the combination of metal, melodic hard rock and progressive rock. In front of a gang of brilliant musicians and scarred veterans, who come from the predecessor Mercury Fang, we find singer Maria Rådsten. Mostly known from before as a member of the group One More Time, it sounds like she’s really found her hunting grounds as she’s impressing with her register, dynamics and strength.

There’s a lot of candy here for one whose choosy with rock; everything from tight, progressive excursions, to ominous metal riffs to melodic choruses that explodes in a kind of hard rock party. Nostalgic as I am I get quite a few vibes from both the seventies and the eighties with Dio, Black Sabbath, Yngwie Malmsteen and the likes. Sometimes I just get a flashback from one of the many guitar sounds thats strewn across the record. An album where they don’t hesitate to squeeze out the very last from the songs where five of the ten songs run over 6 minutes, with the epic finishing track “Day of Retribution” as the grande finale. Listen for yourself here below in a couple of songs.

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

I Call Your Name
Rise of a New Day

Sharp turns here in the blog. Now it’s about hard rock with Egonaut, hailing from Borås, who recently released their album “Mount Egonaut”. For friends of Mustasch, Metallica and Hardcore Superstar as they describe it themselves. I haven’t listened to the entire album yet, but it feels promising. Here’s the opening track “Crawl”, which they’ve also made a video to.

Egonaut’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp

The best rock today comes from Stonewall Noise Orchestra, hailing from Borlänge, who released their fourth album “Salvation” a couple of weeks ago. It’s the first album I listen to with this band, which I’m happy for, because this was just right up my alley today.

They have created a great mix of classic Sabbath-inspired hard rock, glam rock elements and stoner rock, changing the inclination to the various influences from song to song, which gives a varied track collection, fun to listen through and unpredictable, which I like. The melodies are the protagonists on the album, I’d say, where the band seems tho have just right touch to create melodies that feel right for the purpose and to make fascinating choruses. The album appears to be worked through thouroughly, and I can’t find a weak link among the songs; it feels like every track has been cared for in it’s own right and been allowed to flourish. As it should be, but you have to pull it off also, which I think the band have managed to do here.

Stonewall Noise Orchestra’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp

Die Die Die

Usually there’s not much metal in this blog, but today I’m going to present some from Whipping Princess. I wrote about this Malmö band a little more than a year ago when they showed us a garage-sounding hard rock. This year they have gained new speed by releasing a couple of new songs and videos, presenting a heavier, classical metal sound, which feels like a rather obvious step for the band. Here’s the latest song “Laughing At You”.

Whipping Princess’ site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Bandcamp

The quartet Vrak released their debut EP in the end of December. Four songs with dark, foreboding rock that spans from the epic grande to early Sabbath-sounding retro vibes. I really like their basic dynamic sound with guitars that have just the right crunch and great vocals from Josefin Finér.

Vrak on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Bandcamp

I Dream