Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: House Of Shakira
Label: Melodic Rock Records
Release: 2016
Length: 45:39
Rating: 4.5/5
On August 26, 2016, quietly and with no particular fanfare, Swedish rockers House of Shakira released their eighth studio album overall. “Sour Grapes” is yet another entry in a firmly rooted, clearly mapped-out musical vision, one the long-running Swedish masters of the melodic rock craft have followed faithfully ever since their debut »Lint« (1997).
This is the third House Of Shakira studio album with singer Andreas Novak, who joined the band in 2012 after coming over from the defunct progressive metal outfit Mind’s Eye. So what »Sour Grapes« delivers is really a continuation of the musical story from its predecessor, »Pay To Play« (2013), which came out three years earlier. There’s no doubt about that. Interestingly, the band isn’t shy about showing off its Queen influences. The opener No Way Out immediately nods to the songwriting tricks of rock pioneers Queen, which is also a trait of the closer on the previous album, Same Old Story. So the start of the new album and the end of its predecessor are more tightly linked in terms of inspiration than you’d normally expect. The three-year gap between the two albums was a welcome one, and the ideas embodied on »Sour Grapes« once again feel fresh enough. We’re talking freshness within a genre that’s predictable by default. Once again the band took production into its own hands. But the material is sifted a bit more carefully than on the predecessor. You can feel it in the denser sound, especially in the guitar riffs, which (with several layered guitar tracks) build an even more massive wall above the central vocal figure of the expressively powerful Andreas Novak. The same goes this time for the harmonizing of the chorus melodies with additional backing vocals, which sound more pronounced in the production than they did on the predecessor »Pay to Play«.
Since the band’s style is set in stone and House of Shakira don’t stray from it, hunting for differences between the predecessor »Pay to Play« and »Sour Grapes« is an extremely thankless job. Still, you can draw the bottom line that the new record is a touch more varied. The predecessor felt a little more classic hard rock, meaning it spoke to the listener more directly and with more bite. The new album once again has a more noticeable dose of House of Shakira’s eternal inspiration from the legendary AOR pioneers Journey. There’s more trying things out on the new record. The songs My Disaster, Sour Grapes, and above all the closing On The Edge (one of the best tracks on the album) even lean (in traces) toward art rock adventurism, so the new album gives the feeling that House Of Shakira flirted with musical experimentation more than ever before in their career.
That said, House of Shakira come back this time with some unbelievably catchy choruses that hit with instant infectiousness. Besides the opening catalyst No Way Out, that goes for Trial By Fire, for example, or Waste No Time right after it, while moments like Nothing Left or, in the second half, Bend of the River bring more mood, that is, an epic drama-theater moment. Likewise, compared with the previous album, there’s greater variety of ideas across the songs and a bigger dose of trying out different rhythmic keys behind the lead motifs. At the same time, the new songs can boast more richly structured mid-eight passages. Mats rules over them once again with a fresh batch of richly inspired guitar solos.
With the new album, House of Sakira once again deliver an exceptionally high-quality product, and the vocal character of Andreas Novak adds extra bonus points to the album’s consistency. On this third album he has completely loosened up and, of all three of his House of Shakira albums, delivers the most variable approach to his vocal duties. In some places even his mildly soulful and bluesy rasp sparkles through, alongside the usual great appeal of his vocal dominance, marked by an authoritative, purely melodic stance. Beyond the ultra-melodic catchiness that House of Shakira once again don’t skimp on in the slightest, the otherwise raw, in-your-face production of the guitar riffs comes as a surprise. The two guitarists keep a fat, stripped-down Gibson Les Paul sound that pulses straight-up rock. The title track in particular gives you an instant look at the core musical point of the band. Picture one of the guitarists bringing a riff of Zeppelin-like elemental force into the song, and then the vocalist layering Journey-style melodic catchiness on top. That’s more or less how you can sum up the House of Shakira story. And the new album offers a gorgeous new episode of it.
House Of Shakira – On the Edge:
Lineup
Andreas Novak – vocals
Mats Hallstensson – guitar
Anders Lundström – guitar
Basse Blyberg – bass
Martin Larsson – drums
Production
House Of Shakira
Tracklist
01. No Way Out
02. Nothing Left
03. Trial By Fire
04. Waste No Time
05. My Disaster
06. Through It All
07. Bend Of The River
08. Hopeless Case
09. Sour Grapes
10. Stupid Love Song
11. On The Edge
