Devil Electric, Black Rainbows, & Truckfighters
Three hard rock bands that you should be listening to
Over the past few months I’ve written about Meat Loaf, Mayhem, Megadeth, Mastodon and other bands that you’ve probably heard of. This week let’s take a look at some bands that are well known in certain Metal circles, but are perhaps unknown to the general public (and that’s a shame).
DEVIL ELECTRIC:
Devil Electric are a four piece band from Melbourne, Australia. Born of that city’s pub music scene, they have released two full length albums. Ostensibly a hard rock band, they have a heaviness to their music inspired by the early Metal bands. Often described as having Black Sabbath type riffs, the above track plays on the beat in Pentagram’s ‘Forever My Queen’, from 1973. Their music positively drools with atmosphere. Dark and melodic, one review described them as sounding like Tom Waits discovering Metal. That’s a bit of a stretch, but there is something forbidden and dangerous about their sound. The band are really tight and vocalist Pierina O'Brien is astoundingly good.
BLACK RAINBOWS:
Black Rainbows are from Rome, Italy. Founded in 2006, they have released 8 studio albums and have even formed their own record label, Heavy Psych Sounds. Playing a style of Stoner Rock, they delight in producing super melodic albums all with an incredible fuzzy tone. Heavy Psych Sounds indeed.
They have been through multiple line ups, with frontman Gabriele Fiori being the common thread. Their music has a kind of surf rock feel to it, but it’s surf rock with a hard edge. Influences include the likes of 60s rockers Blue Cheer, and the classic stoner bands Kyuss and Monster Magnet. What I personally love about this band is that a lot of their music has very upbeat and positive vibe. You can definitely feel the sunshine in their music. The blazing, unstoppable, relentless sunshine.
TRUCKFIGHTERS:
Truckfighters formed in Örebro, Sweden in 2001 and have released 5 studio albums. They play superb stoner rock that is on a par with Kyuss. Josh Homme even called them the best band that has ever existed (though slightly tongue in cheek). Their live shows have become legendary.
I sometimes wonder why bands like Truckfighters don’t end up selling bazillions of records like Queens of The Stone Age, or Foo Fighters. Maybe they are just a tiny bit too heavy for the mainstream success? Is it because they prioritise the riff over commercial verse-chorus-verse singalongs? I don’t care. People have exceptionally odd tastes, and I’m unashamed to say that I’m firmly on the hard-riffing fuzzy rock side of the fence. Go and listen to Truckfighters and you’ll come to realise that they are the greatest proponent of Desert Rock, a 100% American born sub-genre of hard rock - And they are from Sweden, a country not exactly famous for sandy cactus strewn landscapes and hazy crimson sunsets.
The Aquanaut hopes you’ve enjoyed this post. I’ve kept it brief in the hope that you have more time to spend listening to some of the tunes I’ve linked to here. I’m a big fan of physical media and I own vinyls of everyone here except for Truckfighters, who I hope to add to the collection some day (Gravity X goes for a lot of money online). In the interests of promoting these bands I’ve added You Tube and Band Camp links. And f*** it, here’s a Spotify playlist for you too.
Next week: We take a look at 3 Bands from my home country of Ireland
Is it just attention bias on my part, or are there a lot more rock/metal bands fronted by women these days?