The Hellacopters : " Eyes of Oblivion"

These guys have been doing this since the mid 90s. Former members of Entombed and Backyard Babies playing straight up 80s flavored rock n roll. There was once a more punk feel to it, but now they are totally almost party 80s rock. The opener is solid, surprised how slick of a production they have. The second song reminds me a little more their earlier sound. The vocals are melodic though husky. He works well with the vocal cords he has, not a Rober Plant type singer at all. I am more impressed by his singing on "So Sorry I Could Die" which has a more 70s like swagger, almost a ballad. This is not just straight up in your face rock, there is a great deal of range sonically, emotionally and very blues based. 

"Eyes of Oblivion" has more of a Thin Lizzy feel to it. The chorus is perhaps slicker. I like the verses to "A Plow and A Doctor" better than chorus, which smiles to the cheese a little too much for my tastes, though it rides the line. They more rock cock attack of "Positively Not Knowing" is moodier and works better than the previous song. At times the touch of the 80s brings to mind bands like Guns n Roses and WASP.  Perhaps this is traced back further to the roots of those bands like the Stones and the Who. The wheel is certainly not being reinvented here. There is a more Slade like spectacle to arena ready riffs of "Tin Foil Soldier".  These 70s roots lean in more of a radio rock direction than what I typically listen to but I appreciate it. 

"Beguiled" charges ahead with more of the 70s punk energy. This is more of what I expected from them. I still had to listen to it twice to form how I felt about it.  Not the most original thing , but it works is the conclusion I came to. They return to a moodier 80s rock feel that is more Bryan Adams than not with "the Pressure's On". They step on the gas again for the last song, that meets somewhere at the cross roads of rock and punk. To  sound like a long lost album from the golden years of arena rock is a lost art, so I will give this album a 9.5 . 

   

8.6