Published on Jul 4, 2001
You know… if one were to explore Norwegian culture solely
through the lyrics of Gluecifer’s music, it would be damn near
impossible to think that male adolescence in that country consisted
of anything other than a quest to become the toughest kid on the
block. I mean in a literal sense, the song titles “Lord Of The
Dusk”, “Go Away Man”, and “The Year Of Manly Living” serve up that
ego driven, tough guy image that one could only imagine an album
titled
Soaring With Eagles At Night To Rise With The Pigs In The
Morning would offer.
Well, I’m still looking for the person who is saying to take the
lyrical genius of Gluecifer seriously. I mean if the title of this
album doesn’t bring a smirk to your face recognizing the band’s
flair for the absurdity then you probably won’t get very far into
this album before shaking your head in disdain.
To put this review in context, Gluecifer is one of the current
crop of 1970’s style, macho, beer drinking, womanizing, guitar
soloing, revivalist bands out of Europe, specifically Scandinavia,
that have been said to have the potential to be the next rage of
the hard rock music industry. Influenced mightily by such artists
as Ted Nugent, MC5, Ramones, AC/DC, and KISS, this hard rock genre
is currently shared by other leading Scandinavian bands, the
Hellacopters, Backyard Babies, and their recently dismantled
Norwegian neighbors, Turbonegro among others. Gluecifer’s niche in
this fraternity is probably in their ability to rock the hardest
while confusing the listener with their off center lyrics.
As evidenced by the opening track, “Bossheaded”, you’ll
immediately capture the previously mentioned toughness vibe with
this rant, “Choose the highway or the path, Get a taste of
Bossman’s wrath, Feel the system of my math.” Huh? Whoever
suggested mixing math with a directional choice? There are plenty
of other examples of such literary genius, trust me. But when was
literary genius ever the norm for hard rock brilliance?
Well anyways, I digress…..maybe we should stick to
simpler topics, namely the fourth track titled “Get The Horn”. With
a chorus chanting “Don’t mess with the bull, your gonna get the
horn”, this cliché is a more appropriate depiction of the
strength of Gluecifer’s artistry. Either way, vocalist Biff Malibu
is more than convincing with his pompous delivery of such a
message.
With the band originally rooted in more of a punk rock style of
delivery,
Soaring With Eagles At Night To Rise With The Pigs In The
Morning breaks away from the previous up tempo style the
album’s predecessor,
Ridin’ The Tiger. So what does this mean? It’s a guarantee
that punk rock purists will scream “sell out”, the almighty tag
that either propels a band into stardom or into a life of
mediocrity. Well, plenty of today’s current bands influenced by the
AC/DC’s, KISS’ and Nugent’s of yesterday have made a healthy living
at their craft so we should not count this as a negative to the
Soaring With Eagles effort. What it really means is that you
can expect a more anthemic, fist pumping, chorus filled selection
of songs complete with all the guitar hooks and catchy bass lines
you would ever care to digest.
The following songs, “Silver Wings” and “Clean Gone Mean” are
the two throwback tracks to the old-style Gluecifer sound.
Accelerated guitar licks spiraling the songs into a punk frenzy
will keep the old schoolers happy, but this album is largely
reliant on anthem rock tracks such as “The Year Of Manly Living”,
“Get The Horn”, and “Heart Of A Bad Machine”.
Curiously, the one thing Gluecifer manages to stunningly
accomplish is cop the same lead guitar riff from
Ridin’ the Tiger‘s “Bounced Checks” track on
Soaring With Eagles‘s “Deadend Beat”. Mind you, it is a
deaccelerated version of the same riff , (go figure…..) but
the saving grace is that they stole it from one of the better
tracks off of their previous album. It’s just such an obvious crime
that it’s worth noting.
So when it’s all said and done,
Soaring With Eagles At Night To Rise With The Pigs In The
Morning will be remembered as Gluecifer’s attempted mainstream
crossover that probably peaks more than it valleys. As a follow up
to its widely acclaimed previous punk style album, this effort is
admirable and shows that the band still has room for upside
potential in the hard rock arena.