Three decades in, the Swedish rockers can still deliver the goods!
First, full disclosure: I’m a big fan of the Hellacopters, not least because the Swedish quintet’s excellent 2002 record ‘By The Grace Of God’ helped to get me through some difficult times back in the day. Still, I promise I’ll do my best to be objective about ‘Overdriver’ – the band’s ninth record, and their second since reuniting back in 2016.
Second, there are no great surprises in store for seasoned Hellacopters fans, but like AC/DC, The Ramones and Motörhead before them, they’ve more than earned the right to mine the same source material over and over again – especially when they strike gold as often as they do here.
For the uninitiated, that means effortlessly cool, catchy riffs straight outta the 70s, infused with punk attitude and urgency, and topped off with the kind of anthemic choruses that will have the likes of ‘Don’t Let Me Bring You Down’ and ‘Doomsday Daydreams’ taking up permanent residence in your brain. Welcome to the fold.
The high-octane ‘Token Apologies’ kicks things off in style, oozing rock n’ roll swagger, and some genuinely jaw-dropping guitar solo action. One of many great things about the Hellacopters is that they certainly have the necessary musical chops to create some bloated hour-long prog workout, but bless them, they don’t waste a note on ‘Overdriver’. When they really put the pedal to the metal, like on the three-minute ‘Wrong Face On’ and ‘Faraway Looks’, you really should check your own pulse if you don’t feel your heart beat at least a touch faster.
They still have a way with words too; with the power-pop flavoured ‘Do You Feel Normal’ boasting the line “Can you relate or would you take offence/If your future’s her past tense?” (plus a superb swirling organ riff). If you’re in search of songs to soundtrack the doubtful or slightly melancholic moments of life, then The Hellacopters will not disappoint you, and when things start looking up again, you’ll have numbers like the closing ‘Leave A Mark’ to help put the strut back in your step.
Are they taking a dig at the current vogue for nostalgia on the gloriously melodic ‘(I Don’t Wanna Be) Just A Memory’? If so, then Nicke Andersson and co can rest easy in the knowledge that, nearly three decades since they formed, their band still sounds great in the here and now. Swedish rock n’ roll ranks among some of the best in the world, and on ‘Overdriver’, The Hellacopters continue that tradition in fine style.
- Token Apologies
- Don’t Let Me Bring You Down
- (I Don’t Wanna Be) Just A Memory
- Wrong Face On
- Soldier On
- Doomsday Daydreams
- Faraway Looks
- Coming Down
- Do You Feel Normal
- The Stench
- Leave A Mark
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I spend my days teaching English to foreign students, and my evenings attending as many gigs as possible. Raised mainly on a diet of 90s third-wave punk, my tastes have grown to include just about anything from trad ska to thrash metal. The Ramones are my musical gods.
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