I was listening to this new Norwegian glam garage rock band The Disciplines and thinking “it’s pretty good, hard guitar riffs pounding drums and a lead singer that snarls and screams like Henry Rollins in a bad mood..” then I looked at the liner notes and did a double take. Lead Vocals: Ken Stringfellow. The Posies Ken Stringfellow? Holy crap. Well I guess Ken wanted to explore this side of his musical personality, nothing wrong with that. If you are looking for a tougher version of The White Stripes or Jet then you’ve come to the right place. Ken teamed up with the Norwegian band Briskeby consisting of drummer Claus Larsen, bassist Baard Helgeland and guitarist Bjorn Bergene, and they quickly developed this aggressive style. The group struts it’s stuff with the opener “Your For The Taking” and summons some glam goodness with “Get It Right.” After a few listens it reveals Ken’s melodic tendencies underneath all those riffs, on “Best Mistake” and “Falling Knives.” I guess it’s a trend to do harder stuff, after all it seems to work for the recent Superdrag album, but this doesn’t feel forced at all. More highlights include, “Hurricane” and the retro flavored “Like So Many Times Before.” Both the latter song and “No Vacancy” comes closer to The Posies sound that any of the previous tracks. The songwriting here aims for both the head and the heart and succeeds in bringing across the message with a ballsy gusto once reserved for guys like Ian Astbury (The Cult). Kool Kat Musik is having a special on this album, you get an exclusive 13-song “Live in Finland” album with each order. For these tough times, sometimes power pop has to get tough.
My Space | Second Motion Records | Pre-order from Kool Kat Musik