The Swedish band Burn -which should not me mixed up with the Germans from Münster- coughed up their debut "Rock Royale" in 2010 and now it ended up in my boom-box. The Gothenburg band exists since 2007 and toured a lot in 2009 with their EP "A Real Rock and Roll Band". "Rock Royale" is a solid Hard Rock album with sometimes punkish, sometimes glam, or even popish influence. The boys and girl play with the principle "if the ingredients worked for the legendary bands, it´ll work with us" and thus the friends of Hellacopters, Turbonegro and Backyard Babies will like it. To all, who hate female fronted bands: have no fear, she only sings the backup vocals and she can actually sing; the lead singer is a man with a rough voice.
There are two songs, which get suck in the head: The opener "C´mon, C´mon" and "The Wrestler". Among the rest of the tracks there are one or two fillers, but the rest are nice, which are fun to listen to. The Swedes got a good producer, Peter Dolving, who doesn´t just bring in a nice, rough Rock ´n Roll sound, but also performs as a guest singer. Apart from him, there are other guest musicians, like Tomas Silver from Hardcore Superstars, who failed to astound.
Burn didn´t set any musical milestones with "Rock Royale", but the album is fun and I´d love to see them live to see if they are as much fun live as on track. (SA)
The second STALKER opinion: Who has turned back time, I wondered when I heard the first notes of Rock Royale. Tenderly sizzling Southern Rock guitars combined with a lot of 70s Rock´n Roll lifestyle. But this is not the South of the US but Southern Sweden, and those crazy dudes call themselves neither Lynyrd nor Skynyrd but Burn. As a mixture of these mentioned Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, Alice Cooper and The Who, they attempt to become Sweden´s hottest live act. After their 2009 EP named A Real Rock and Roll Band, they release their debut Rock Royale now. In the studio Burn were supported by Tomas Silver (Hardcore Superstar), Peter Dolving (The Haunted) and the Troublemakers, and the former The Haunted singer also produced the record.
The final product consists of 10 versatile songs that show a lot of love for detail. Besides snotty kick-ass tracks like the opener „C´mon C´mon“ and „My Band“, highly energetic songs like „Oh!!“ and „A girl like you“ will impress you. And also the softer „Planet“ or „I need some time“ will prove their ear candy quality due to harmonious chorus and solid song writing. Only the guitars could be more powerful, or riffs catchier now and then, or there could have been a Twin-Lead. But all in all Burn release a good debut with Rock Royale, which should appeal to fans of all the bands mentioned above. (MR)
