BRUTUS – Behind The Mountains
- Posted on 01-06-2013
Throwback retro hard rock is all the rage in Europe these days. It’s like the 1970’s music scene took the latest time machine and warped 40 years ahead, infiltrating young musical minds to strip down their sound, go back to basics, and re-create psychedelic, groovy riffs and strong basic drum tempos. Brutus are a part Swede, part Norwegian quintet who certainly love Hendrix, Grand Funk Railroad, Sabbath, Pentagram, and even a bit of Clutch to these ears on "Behind The Mountains".
The 9 songs feature bluesy laced vocals, open instrumental moments where often a quieter lead break or bass line carries the momentum (check out "Blue Pills" for this aspect), and a general fun vibe as the band crank out their brand of 70’s oriented semi-doom/ psychedelic hard rock. Harmonica strains accent the low tuned guitar groove for "Crystal Parrot", and the rhythm section know how to boost up the riff for large body spasm effects- the best of which is "Big Fat Boogie", Johnny Winter would be proud of this one.
"Behind The Mountains" provides perfect beer swilling soundtrack music to raise a raucous gathering. Brutus appears to be another band to join the worldwide throwback brigade- and could align with Witchcraft and Orchid to form a killer triple bill. Natural sounds plus natural chemistry equal something tasty and substantive in a world driven by cookie cutter, technologically enhanced music.