Back catalogue: Rock

Review: .After Swedish psychedelia worshipping, garage-tinged hard rock heroes The Hellacopters returned to the stage for an apparent one-off performance in 2016, they simply couldn't put the project back to bed. Releasing their follow up to 2008's at the time farewell covers album Head Off in 2022; Eyes Of Oblivion was a groove-laden return to form, restoring the band's knack for earworm hooks delivered with authentically retro riffage. What many might forget is that mastermind Nicke Andersson cut his teeth as the drummer and primary songwriter for death metal pioneers Entombed before ultimately departing, looking to the melodies of his youth in search of creative fulfilment. Now with Overdriver, the second LP of The Hellacopters reunion era, Andersson pushes further back beyond the local and global psychedelic acts of his previous primary inspiration (many of whom were covered on the aforementioned Head Off) and looks to the blueprints of T. Rex and early Elton John to help craft a collection of vintage-seeming hard rock anthems, as playful as they are poignant and respectful. One listen to 'Soldier On' and you'll be convinced you heard your dad blaring it in the car when you were but a young'en.

Review: While Swedish garage-tinged hard rock heroes The Hellacopters made their bombastic return with 2022's excellent Eyes Of Oblivion; their 2008 predecessor Head Off was originally envisioned as the band's swansong project. With that creative headspace in mind, the group opted to (try and) go out on a tributary whim with an album consisting entirely of covers of personal favourite cuts from acts they felt were deserving of far more praise, adoration and discovery. Boasting an eclectic mix of renditions from garage-punk outfits from their home of Sweden such as Demons, to seminal American fuzzed out troubadours like New Bomb Turks, Dead Moon, and The Bellrays, to name just a small portion, the LP serves as a celebration of all things garage, punk, fuzz and rock, often in the same sonic breath, from a band who at the time of recording felt they had nothing more creative to say. As time has shown just how wrong they were, what better time to revisit this farewell-turned-covers LP which receives a lush new repress from their recently found label-home Nuclear Blast.

Review: Swedish garage-tinged hard rock heroes The Hellacopters, made the mother of all comebacks with 2022's sonic refusal to stagnate on Eyes Of Oblivion, which served as their first full-length since 2008's original "farewell" covers project Head Off. Following a return to the stage in 2016, it appears that wasn't enough to satiate the creative appetite of mastermind Nicke Andersson, a pioneering force who started out as the drummer for legendary death metal outfit Entombed before allowing his side-project to engulf all of his prowess and energy. Being one of the band's primary songwriters and then subsequently freed from their aggressive constraints allowed Andersson to explore his own designs, now with the arrival of Overdriver, we hear a seasoned veteran refusing to be boxed in again by his own earlier psychedelic output by boldly embracing the vintage classic rock of his youth. Bombastic riffs, earworm hooks and the antithesis of shying away from melody culminate in a latter day work boasting anthems such as 'Soldier On' which genuinely sound like if Elton John in his peak years traded his piano for a fuzzed out axe of a guitar.