HOUSE OF SHAKIRA – XIT

These melodic hard rockers from Sweden impressed me with their Radiocarbon LP from 2019, and I was curious as to what this brand-new opus of theirs would be like and whether it would sound like the natural successor to the aforementioned record and be just as cool and exciting as that one.

These veterans have a musical identity of their own and are certainly more than capable musicians, but XIT is an uneven offering and a bit of a mixed bag in every sense of the word. Although it does contain some well-written and appealing tunes in the shape of the groove-laden ‘The Messenger’ and the energetic ‘Something in the Water’ just to list a couple of examples, too many tracks lack depth and the ability to thrill the listener, which is to say that they are meandering affairs lacking bite and longevity. The crunchy production works splendidly and several good ideas present themselves throughout, but the content neither stands out in the overall perspective nor does it come across as refreshing or particularly memorable. House of Shakira have crafted more cohesive and inspired outputs than XIT, but make sure you give the slightly dark ‘Nowhere Bound’ and the rousing title track a listen as they contain atmosphere and musical excellence in spades.