THE CARBURETORS – Laughing in the Face of Death
- Posted on 25-10-2015
Norwegian hard rock ‘n’ roll here – an equal love for AC/DC as Motörhead, plus some early roots of 50’s rock thrown in for good measure. "Laughing in the Face of Death" is as pure to the original intent of rock music as one can expect – the angst, the rebellion, the energy, the catchiness, the hope that you can safely get your feeling out in a proper manner safely. Eddie Guz possesses prime time charm and oozes front man machismo on winning tracks like "Hellfire", Ramones-oriented "Water into Wine", and motorcycle running "Bullet" – the latter featuring some serious guitar hero break action from Kai Kidd and Stian Krogh.
The Carburetors remember the days of Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis in "Shot Full Of Noise", a lot of the slide guitar and four on the floor rhythmic elements sure to get the audiences clapping and dancing in the aisles. This is a quintet who wear their leather as a badge of honor, a gang intent on entertaining at any and all costs. ‘Rolling with the girls/ rocking with the boys’ is their mantra – never overthinking the hooks or songwriting. Sure reference points can be obvious on certain cuts – a little Judas Priest on "Blood for Blood" just one example of taking the "Grinder" main hook to make it more of their own – but in the end The Carburetors win me over because of their simplistic execution.
My second go around with the band ("Rock ‘n’ Roll Forever" in 2008 another winner), "Laughing in the Face of Death" will give you a history lesson on hard rock and punk while containing the choruses and hooks that keep you swinging for years. Great job gentlemen.