MEAN STREAK – Eye Of The Storm (2020)
On their fifth album “Eye Of The Storm” to be released next Friday, Swedish rockers MEAN STREAK managed to hire famous veteran producer Max Norman (Ozzy Osbourne, Y&T) for the mix and help with production. The result is eleven songs that really rock and there is a main role for guitarist Julian Eriksson who get an enormous amount of space to fire down his riffs and solos of which some are really impressive.
The band kick off the album in cheeky fashion with ‘Last Nail In The Coffin’, that bare-facedly fuses two Ozzy classics together (those being Bark At The Moon and I Don’t Know) in a move clearly designed to discombobulate the listener and send all their pre-formed opinions on what to expect from these always-solid Scands flying out of the window from the album’s opening seconds.
As a ploy it works, as you’ll be halfway through second track ‘From The Cradle To The Grave’ before you’ve recovered your composure. This song itself is more classic hard rock, sounding like a kind of late-Eighties mix of Def Leppard and Jeff Paris. Again, it’s not what you might have been expecting. And I love it.
‘Heavy Metal Rampage’ does exactly what it says on the tin with an ’80s feel with some Helix on it, whilst the speedy ‘Sacred Ground’ could easily have been penned by Kai Hansen in the mid Eighties.
Vocalist Andy La Guerin once again underlines just what a good voice for this genre he has, whilst new guitarist Julian Eriksson proves himself to be a versatile player capable of handling any style in the metal-related playbook as the band veer wildly in style from track to track.
‘Dying Day’ has a real epic, brooding feel to it, whilst ‘1000 Years’ is an anthemic semi-balladic stormer shot through with real class. Both tracks prove that Mean Streak continue to grow beyond their roots into a very special act indeed in 2020.
And whilst they’ll never leave those roots completely behind – ‘Stand My Ground’ is pure Tipton / Halford whilst ‘Break The Limit’ sees the band tributing Accept in exuberant fashion – adding a melodic, hard rock catchiness to their sound they are becoming a fully-formed classic rock identity in their own right with each release.
And talking of style, Max Norman did a great job highlighting the band’s punchy sound with a clear output.
Highly Recommended
1. Last Nail In The Coffin
2. From The Cradle To Grave
3. Heavy Metal Rampage
4. Sacred Ground
5. Dying Day
6. Judas Falling
7. 1000 Years
8. Stand My Ground
9. Eye Of The Storm
10. Break The Limit
11. Pandemonium
Andy La Guerin – vocals, guitar
Julian Eriksson – lead guitar
Peter Andersson – bass
Fredrik Skold – drums
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www.aorheaven.com/index.php/englisch_b/katalog/mean-streak-eye-of-the-storm.html
