SPIDERS – Killer Machine (2018)
Utilizing a bevy of vintage gear and equipment, Swedes retro glam rockers SPIDERS recorded their new album “Killer Machine” with the help iconic producer Chips Kiesbye [The Hellacopters, Graveyard] to obtain a true retro classic sound.
It was not a shock that when Witchcraft guitarist John Hoyles and Graveyard drummer Axel Sjöberg started jamming together that the output would have a familiar feel to it. Both bands were well known for their love for all things 1970s. Not long afterward, Hoyle’s wife Ann-Sofie Hoyles joined on vocals, and Spiders was born.
Sjöberg didn’t stick around long, leaving when Graveyard started to take off in 2011. Since then, Spiders have released two albums: Flash Point in 2012 and Shake Electric two years later.
The latter (featured on this blog) was filled with the kind of tunes that would make Christopher Walken scream for more cowbell — the rhythm section boogied, the riffs crunched, and Ann-Sofie’s powerful pipes fell somewhere between Jenny Haan from Canadian prog-blues rockers Babe Ruth and the crunchy early Heart albums. It was a top-ten album in their homeland, and the band did their first US tour supporting Graveyard in 2016.
The band’s third release “Killer Machine” released today proves that while you can’t take the 1970s out of Spiders, you could take them out of the 1970s, kicking and screaming no less.
Our modern times encroached on the band’s retroactivity in many ways: the record is notably more sinister, but the lyrics especially confirm that they’re not listening to Kansas anymore.
Witness “Dead or Alive,” a song about how, despite all our modern communication, we walk around like zombies with noses in portable PCs missing the trees for the forest.
Elsewhere, the politically charged “Shock and Awe” packs venomous spite into a thrash-y gallop. Meanwhile,for the ending track “Heartbreak” harmonica punctuates with slick swagger and heavy heart.
One of my favorites is the the wah-wah-pedaled funky “Wild Child”, co-written by Peter Kvint. He is a well-known songwriter in Sweden who has worked with internationally renowned artists such as Britney Spears, Trace Adkin, and Natasha Bedingfield. His involvement shows Spiders to be a rare case: the retroactive band that wants to evolve.
“Killer Machine” is a very well done retro-glam rock n’ roll glitter album which sounds vintage, but powerful with an updated production and strong songs / performances.
Very Recommended
01 – Shock And Awe
02 – Dead Or Alive
03 – Burning For You
04 – Killer Machine
05 – Like A Wild Child
06 – Higher Spirits
07 – Swan Song
08 – So Easy
09 – Don’t Need You
10 – Take What You Want
11 – Heartbreak
Ann-Sofie Hoyles (vocals)
John Hoyles (guitar)
Matteo Gambacorta (bass)
Ricard Harryson (drums)
BUY IT !
www.amazon.de/Killer-Machine-Spiders/dp/B079J83V14
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