Double Deuce

So there you have it, ladies and gent's: The Top-Rarity of Swedish Metal - at least as far as 12" releases goes (Savagers recieves the silver medal, and the bronze goes to Detest). Obviously there's no chance in hell's unholy fire that an album with a front sleeve and line-up pic like that is going to exist in the tens of thousands, and if any type of sleeve gives an Ûtterly Öbscüre Priväte Pressïng-vibe it's this sort. Incidently there's a rumour that there might actually be two different sleeves available for this release. Apparently the band was so disappointed with the initial design, they made a second one themselves. Which of the 2 sleeve-variations is the one above the story doesn't foretell and from the handful of copies that have emerged so far, all have had this design depicted above. As said, this piece of trivia is yet unconfirmed, but should anyone out there be in the possession of, or have seen a different version with your own eyes, please get in contact. As for the band-history, very little is known. They seem to have formed from the remnants of local hardrockers STONEHENGE (no relation to any other band bearing this name ever, anywhere, obviously), changed vocalist shortly after the release of the EP, and broke up a year or 2 after that.

The one-sentence-review: It's slightly better than it looks.

The slightly longer version: The marching drums and twin guitar lead intro to "Soldiers In The Sun" is a certain eyebrow-raiser. Quite bril' and far from and high above what you'd expect from looking at the front sleeve. Then comes Andreas Hammarström's vocals and ...my fuckness it's the lost twin of Ola Ohlsson!! This of course means that from hereon we're talking about a pure love-or-hate affair. Personally I'm part of the Ohlsson-era Gotham City-fanclub so sign me up for luuuuuuw, baby! Fast paced, catchy and Ola, what more could you ask from a private pressing opener? The GC-vibes continue in the following "Emptyness"(sic), although the riffing is more crude - more 'youth-centre' if you will. The spinechill recieved from the vocal melodies of the verses are unfortunately cut short by the dull-rock chorus. Continuing, "The Beast" is merely a subpar NWOBHMy-like filler, but things slightly catches up on the closing "Time's Out", a very melancholic, amost teen-angst'y semi-epic with some female backing vocals enhancing the experience.
...And all this wrapped up in a mom's garage/youth-centre performance that once more will decimate the potential fan-base of this record. That still leaves dozens of Obscüre Metal-fans and collectors out there who will most likely languish the absence of this title in their collection for the reminder of their days, myself included. (Well, I did get an EX/EX copy of From The Fjords in trade for it, so I guess I've forfeited the right to complain...)