Artist: Defuse
Label: Fastball Music
Release: 2011
Length: 39:21
Rating: 3/5
Overkill has always been the way to woo the masses, and most bands in the modern rock aisle are empirical proof of it. After Velvet Revolver, after the days of the sonic invasion of QOTSA’s stone-age queens, and after the dirty arsenal of manly, sweat-soaked music from Clutch, plus the more predictable Monster Magnet and the beauty-obsessed Nickelback, there’s little room left to shock anyone that way, and yet every now and then a surprise turns up. This time it comes straight from the land of a thousand lakes, faraway Finland, and yes, everything I just listed is bundled into one package, tailored for recession times and belt-tightening. Picture explosive guitar riffs as if penned by notorious guitar wizard Slash or his slightly less exposed but by no means less gifted rival Zakk Wylde. Add the eroticism of harder-sounding rock that flirts with modern alternative currents, and you get the foundation that the musical matter of Bangkok Addiction measures itself against. It’s as if Mötley Crüe had found a set of steel balls fit for a new era and crossed the threshold of a second puberty. The age of intense mating has begun, and the cry of pleasure is screamed, textbook-predictably, by a band that was a total stranger to me until today.
No, this isn’t a revolutionary leap forward by a couple of light-years, but Defuse are still capable of rattling off eleven solid tunes that won’t leave you with sour burps, and you won’t have to rinse, disinfect and detox your liver, your guts and your stroke-fried brain afterwards either. You won’t waste much time getting through the whole Finnish take on modern standards, since all eleven numbers are strung together in under forty minutes, but something does bug me: the quantum leap back in time came a little late. If Jani Hyvärinen had grabbed the mic, drummed up a solid rhythm section like the one Defuse have today, and if the guitar duo of Arto Ahonen and Timo Hämäläinen had ripped through their strings this confidently some 20 years earlier, MTV wouldn’t have been just about the showdown between American and British production — the colors of the Finnish flag would have soared high up into the clouds too. Bankgok Addiction gives off a feeling of nostalgic gazing back at times gone by, and the awareness that the golden days are gone hammers the last nails into the coffin of an otherwise solid piece of music.
You can listen to the album’s tracks HERE.
Defuse stick to their own tempo regardless of all the negative factors, so the magnitude of gradually giving in to the already-heard keeps growing steadily, from the first bars of Overtake onward. Jani goes full Scott Weiland on the vocals, the shadow of Dave Wyndorf creeps in somewhere in the background, and at the same time Defuse’s frontman is clearly well versed in the old tricks of the whole soldiery of long-haired gods from the teased-up eighties. Remember Axl Rose back when he was still relevant? Surprises are few and far between, but the skilled playing proves that the Finns are capable of writing, performing and recording a really likable record, one with fewer reasons for criticism than you’d first think. The stoner stampede of Cross The Line is more than convincing, with Flying Colors adding extra weight, and you should happily lose yourself even more in the pleasing riff and solo interplay on Evil Soul. So there are quite a few arguments for giving in to the pleasure, and if you add a pinch of organic sound, strong and convincing production, and an ego bigger than the Moon, it becomes clear that Defuse managed to make a solid little record — just a couple of decades too late! But let the cobbler judge the shoes …
This review was created in collaboration between RockLine and Rock Hard Slovenija.
Line-up
Jani Hyvärinen – vocals
Arto Ahonen – lead guitar
Timo Hämäläinen – rhythm guitar
Jerkko Tapaninen – drums
Tero Karjalainen – bass
Production
Defuse
Tracklist
1. Overtake
2. Back To The Underground
3. Adrift
4. Cross The Line
5. On Your Blind Side
6. Flying Colors
7. Melting Sky
8. Evil Soul
9. Grace The Devil
10. Done My Time
11. Deep Red Dead End
