Published on Dec 21, 2004
Born in celebration of the Hellacopters’ ten years of existence,
the six song EP release of
Strikes Like Lightning punctuated a recent November
anniversary party held by the band in their hometown of Stockholm,
Sweden.
Judging by the artwork of this album in comparison with the
band’s last full length release,
By The Grace Of God, and coupled with the fact that the
Hellacopters have been on a near year recording and touring hiatus,
it would be easy to draw the conclusion that these songs were the
scraps left over from that 2002 effort. So, maybe I’m just an
overly skeptical sort but I can tell you that this was my thought
before recently picking up a copy of this E.P. Based on my previous
review of the
By The Grace Of God album
on this website it should be easy
to see why I would be wary of such a connection.
Knee-jerk reactions are only occasionally as painful as the term
suggests. So it’s fortunate that I am finding that
Strikes Like Lightning has plenty of moments that
differentiate it from its largely sterile predecessor.
Vocally speaking, most of the songs on this album have Nicke
Andersson sounding rather pop-stream in his delivery. From my
perspective that might sound like a bummer, but I can positively
say that outside of “A View From Nowhere” each time it looks like
Andersson is getting complacent with such a stagnant vocal pitch,
some new dynamic such as a biting guitar riff steers the song into
a more interesting direction. Additionally, the complacent approach
in “A View From Nowhere” falls into a short but sweet handclap
procession that ups the track’s boogie factor — even if only for a
brief spell.
By and large though, the Hellacopters have come up with some
riffs on this release that up the overall tempo and vibe when
compared to
By The Grace Of God. In addition to feeling rather soulful
while listening to the wooo-oooh’s from the backing vocals on
“Blinded By The Light,” the well defined bass line on “Fiends And
Frankensteins” and the continual upbeat tempo found on the song “On
The Line” tempt me to want to rock out a bit.
All in all,
Strikes Like Lightning is a pretty solid E.P. effort. Not in
the way that the Hellacopters’
Disappointment Blues has been etched into my perpetual
consciousness but in a manner that attempts to throw the band’s
sound back a notch to the days before
By The Grace Of God was recorded and released. I’m not even
sure there is a real bonafide hit on
Strikes Like Lightning even though “Turn The Wrong Key” will
probably have me one day taking a step back to reconsider this
claim.
In conclusion, I can say to Hellacopters fans that it is safe to
knee jerk at the sight and realization that there are some obvious
similarities between
Strikes Like Lightning and
By The Grace Of God. At worst, a mild sprain might develop
in doing such a thing; at best you’ll probably be like me and set
your music player on repeat mode and walk away from the player.
As a sidenote, the band in characteristic fashion has also
released
Strikes Like Lightning as a part of a deluxe box set (three
7″ records) with other assorted trinkets on November 30. Limited to
3,000 copies worldwide on Sweet Nothing Records, the lack of any
real weakness on these songs will surely make the box set an
essential addition to all vinyl-philes collections. Pick one up now
before it’s too late.