Swampy Redneck Rock
When a band masks their identity as seen on the cover of the cd, it can mean one of three things,
1. We’re too embarrassed to show our real identity with twatty pseudonyms for all (Slipknot)
2. Its a laugh and a gimmick ‘’we don’t take ourselves seriously!’’ (WigWam)
3. A bunch of session musician /muppets put together by a higher order to make money (anything by Simon Cowell, Idol series etc, X factor shite)
Occasionally none of the above matter and you end up with a good bunch of songs which take care of business (see WigWam). In Backlashes case, unfortunately that songs aren’t that great • BUT, they are good! Backlash are plying their trade amongst the thousands of other Swedish based bands trying to make a small dint in the ever expanding Scandinavian rock / metal market.
Backlash obviously take their influences from the good ‘ol South. I’m talking Alabama and not Malmo! Clearly Lynyrd Skynyrd and Molly Hatchet are the mainstay of their musical style, with a good measure of AC/DC thrown in for good luck. So the music is simple in its form, good time, hard rockin’, balls out kind of tunes. All this with vocals from Ian Astbury with tonsillitis, not him obviously, but this is the sound they are replicating. Courtesy of the Ministry of Silly Names, singer Reverand Sorethroat.
All songs are in the main, short, punchy with melodic choruses. This not exactly thinkin mans metal with such, thought provoking? songs as ‘Backstabbin’ Bastards’, ‘Sugar mama’, and ‘Cannonball’. Backdraft need to look and re-locate to the US of A aka ‘The Land That Time Forgot’ as there is still a market for this ‘redneckrock’. The Southern grove flows through all the songs on offer, Rev Strepthroats voice, gravelly and gritty as it is, really grows as songs progress and suite the material perfectly.
Highlights come in the form of opening song ‘ Just Aint Right’ a song as good as any of the AC/DC clones on the face of this planet. The main highlight is an appearance of Ralf Gyllenhammar (fellow Swedish regional Stars In Their Eyes Ian Astbury Heat winner also plying his trade in the excellent Mustasch) on the track Game of Life’.
So, as long as you know what you are letting yourself in for, it’s a good, honest collection of songs. To reiterate, it’s not brain taking just god Southern Style good time rock ‘n’ roll. This is the kind of band I’d expect to see in Stockholm on a Friday night. Unless any of us live within a 20Kn radius of this city then I doubt if we’ll get the opportunity to see them live. Which is a shame...