Here is another bulletproof steel barrier from Sweden; my first reaction was SIDEBURN when this excellent piece of plastic started to spin, i looked it up, and yes it is the same singer along with the same drummer. People of my country are simply among the leaders in creating this kind of music and this time Mangrove brightens up my life and get my speakers to bounce up and down like two loaded junkies (and if they break i will blame those who sent me this promo ;-))
I have always liked Sideburn and just like them, these dudes are animals that grabs you by the balls and makes you wanna somersault down the hills in joy, and on the way down grab the world's most gorgeous chick so you land on top of her! Just like many other bands in the same genre these psychedelic monster truckers love the 70's, such as Grand funk and Led zeppelin, and even Black Sabbath are a strong influence to these Swedes and it is not surprising since much good music comes from that time period.
First track 'Universal time' on Mangrove's debut is brilliant; I almost freaked out when these tasty tones reached my ears. Light years of fuzzadelic magic along with tons of stonerriffic and sometimes hard rockish riffs, it starts really well and I get the feeling of greatness. Songs like 'Fieces of our yesterday' and 'Endless skies' do not make things worse, Mangrove keeps highlighting out the best from the 70's and mixes it together with a sweet touch of the 21st century. The band surely delivers a high quality psychedelic mix between 70's hard rock and stoner which only a few manages to deliver in such a neat way and I'm very delighted, almost euphoric that my fellow citizens repeatedly manages to pokes god's ass in a exasperating way.
Gems like 'Time to sorrow' and 'Electric eye' makes me wanna run amok naked ten times around my building with a can o beer in my hand showing my pale fat belly to all who pass by and finally end up in my neighbours basement looking for things to steal to be able to afford more CD's like this! Once again you get a big bite on the candybar and the boys in Mangrove clearly shows that they want to reach the top, and they almost do! These magnitudes ends the album with the track 'Quivering ground' which is a heavy instrumental psyche act that reaching just over the three-minute limit. I suppose you could call it a kind of outro which is a quite pleasant closure to this disc.
Mangrove's debut album is a good example of how things should be made; you get nine professionally recorded tracks by three professional musicians. A piece of swedish rock history has been written and I hope that in future we get to know more about this precious wood that grow along shores of the psychedelic river.
Reviewed by Tobias Beament
Myspace
Transubstans Records
Track List
04 River Of My Soul
05 Time Of Sorrow
06 Back By The Mountainside
07 Electric Eye
08 Mangrove
09 Quivering Ground
05 Time Of Sorrow
06 Back By The Mountainside
07 Electric Eye
08 Mangrove
09 Quivering Ground
