With most Australian hard rock bands being measured against the incomparable AC/DC, or to a lesser extent, Airbourne, it’s refreshing to listen to the new album ”Shockwave” from DEAD CITY RUINS where you can hear, for the most part, a band which have ground out their own sound. DEAD CITY RUINS music has an old-school hard rock feel with modern production, at places with a bluesy vibe, at others with chunky dark riffs and face-melting vocals aplenty.

Speaking about vocals, for this album the band has recruited a new frontman in Steve Welsh, and dude, what a find! It’s hard not to draw similarities between Welsh and former Skid Row shouter Sebastian Bach. Welsh has the lot, presence, power and a devilish yell. On songs like ‘Dog On A Leash’ and ‘This Side Of The Dirt’ show why he’s the jewel in the band’s crown and could propel them further up the league.

The best thing with some modern young bands from the current rock scene is that they capture the essence of certain eras of rock music and do so in a way as to not seem like they’re imitating it. The way a lot of these band go about it and keep it fresh is by either fusing multiple eras into one sound or taking one era and giving it a modern spin on it.

Dead City Ruins is one such band doing that.

Opening track “Preacher” is a perfect example. I grew up on ’70s rock and this song gave me immediate comparisons to Led Zeppelin & Black Sabbath but with more modern bands influences fused with those elements. The song hits hard as it starts out with slow pounding drums and some hard rocking, grooving riffs, Steve Welsh comes in with great commanding vocals. The riffs groove with a style somewhere between Jimmy Page and Malcolm Young, this track has an excellent chorus and the song will get you moving.

“Vision” is propelled by the solid work by the rhythm section consisting of bassist Luke Bolton and drummer Nick Trajanovski. Deep Purple would be proud of the riffs on this song and yet as classic rock as the skeleton of this song sounds the meat of it is still very modern in sound.

“Speed Machine” would fit right in on a Velvet Revolver album, it’s energetic pace keeps the album moving and has an epic solo in it. The guitar work on this album courtesy of Tommy Tbone and Sean Blanchard is absolutely fantastic, the styles that these guys fuse together on this album they pull off extremely well, they are very versatile players with a lot of skill and technique.

“Rain” is an interesting musical hybrid, think ‘Blaze of Glory’ by Bon Jovi meets the mellower side of 90s hard rock. It goes from hypnotic driving softer melodies to hard hitting riffs around the chorus and third act of the song, by far one of my favorite tracks on the album.

“Dog on a Leash” kills, and reminds me of The Cruel Intentions meets John Corabi era The Dead Daisies, another great energetic rocker. This song’s guitar solo as it squeals and howls is awesome.

“This Side of The Dirt” starts out with a good fast tempo drum rhythm and slow building guitars that initially gave me Guns N’ Rose’s vibes before venturing a little more Junkyard Drive territory. “Drifter” brings back that bluesier Led Zeppelin element, but with more of a Soundgarden groove. “Spiders” musically is like Black Sabbath meets southern rock but the vocals have that dirty sound.

“Blood Moon” is an incredible track that I think the whole band really shines on, the grooving riffs, the technical drumming and thunderous bass line, the powerful vocals, this song just has it all, And that fade out at the end is really cool.

“The Sorcerer” is another great fusion of 70’s and modern which has kick-ass riffs and melodies, another one of my favorites and a powerful end to a great album.

”Shockwave” comes across as a musical statement from DEAD CITY RUINS, it’s extremely impressive in it’s ambition, skill, and composition. The influences I pull in my attempt to describe their sound are bands I admire, combining the styles of those bands isn’t a common or simple feat. The heavy handed rhythms on this album really give a groove and swagger that was more a part of the 70s rock sound than it was in the 80s, it’s nice to listen to a band that has that going for them.

On face value these are very good songs, but when you examine them deeper and really pay attention to what’s going on in their structure it’s extremely impressive.

We highly recommend checking out DEAD CITY RUINS and this strong new album.

01 – Preacher
02 – Vision
03 – Madness
04 – Speed Machine
05 – Rain
06 – Dog on a Leash
07 – This Side of the Dirt
08 – Drifter
09 – Spiders
10 – End of the Line
11 – Blood Moon
12 – The Sorcerer

Steve Welsh – vocals
Tommy Tbone, Sean Blanchard – guitars
Luke Bolton – bass
Nick Trajanovski – drums

BUY
www.amazon.com/Shockwave-Dead-City-Ruins/dp/B0B1HXTWF8

After releasing several singles and a mini-album, Norwegian melodic rockers KARDANG are presenting their full-length album “We Ain’t Dead Yet“. The band is already touring all over Scandinavia taking their infectious brand of rock music to a wide audience.

”We Ain’t Dead Yet” packs eleven effective rocking tracks with a strong American feeling at places bringing to mind Nineties Night Ranger, at others with more straight riffage, some Seventies acts, all with a modern sound. Very well recorded & produced, songs like “Face to Face”, “Guilty Pleasures”, “Woman Like You” and “Touchdown” have a great summertime vibe to it, filled with cool choruses and you can’t help but sing along.

Things get off to a solid start, after a twinkling twin guitar intro, with the chugging “Turbo Prince” before the gears are immediately stepped up for the title track. Perhaps this should have opened the album as it is instantly infectious with a very Sunset Strip sound.

The boogie styled “Guilty Pleasures” is up next with its fun bluesy rhythm; while another favorite is the mid-tempo “Woman Like You” which, to me, had a real Night Ranger feel to it.

“Roll Baby Roll” is a lascivious party anthem which features a neat backing vocal from female pop artist Cindy Kvinlaug and wouldn’t be out of place on a Jackyl album (if they ever did party anthems). Hearing her and Kardang’s lead vocalist Owe Wilhelmsen together really makes the song a winner. It just works.

“Junkie Jane” is a full on Ratt-like tale of lust on the streets with another strong vocal performance from singer Owe. Up next is the rather stadium rock-by-numbers “Piece Of You” which, although a bit of a slight blip in the proceedings, is nevertheless seamlessly done, with the guitars of both Henning “Boogie Silver” Sirnes and John “Jonke” Kare Werdel again in fine virtuoso form.

The southern fried “Black Sky” has a .38 Special flavor to it which is definitely no bad thing, and no mean feat either, and this continues into the summertime roadhouse joy of “Touchdown”, before changing into the stomping arena styled “Magic”, another winner.

The consistency of Terje “Terry Hammer” Hamer’s bass and Fredrik “Freddy” Gyland’s drums also merit a mention as they are solid throughout and shine further on the shambolic, defiant encore of “Face To Face.”

The production is clean, the album cover is cool, the band members are practically faultless throughout, and in vocalist Wilhelmsen, they certainly have an exceptional sounding frontman. The influences are apparent, so if you remotely like any of the ones mentioned, then you will almost certainly like this.

And even if you don’t, just wind the window down, turn it up and enjoy the ride because this is a mighty fine album indeed.

Highly Recommended

01 – Turbo Prince
02 – We Ain’t Dead Yet
03 – Guilty Pleasures
04 – Woman Like You
05 – Roll Baby Roll (feat. Cindy Kvinlaug)
06 – Junkie Jane
07 – Piece Of You
08 – Black Sky
09 – Touchdown
10 – Magic
11 – Face To Face

Owe Wilhelmsen – vocals
Henning Sirnes – guitar
John Kare Werdel – guitar
Terje Hamer – bass
Frederik Gyland – drums

BUY
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B1HD561R