No, I have not been to a far-away Russian province closer to China then to Poland. Also, no, I have not seen a fairly well rated drama movie about a family in the Argentina coup d’état. Neither of them has really gotten my attention as much as the heavy blues rock band Kamchatka! You could have known this, because this is a site about music and Kamchatka is about to release their sixth album ‘Long Road Made Of Gold’.
Kamchatka from left to right: Tobias Strandvik (drums), Thomas Juneor Andersson (guitars, vocals) and Per Wiberg (bass, vocals, keys)
On their last record ‘The Search Goes On’ former Opeth keyboard player Per Wiberg joined the band on a permanent basis. He did play a few keys, but he mostly added the bass guitar duty to his account. With this new bass player in their ranks Kamchatka were ready to record a new album and that record is ‘Long Road Made Of Gold’.
First of all ‘Long Road…’ is one hell of a lot less complex than what I have heard from its predecessor. With the addition of a little more seventies this Swedish trio has absolutely chosen a more blues rock road, instead of the regular, and a bit progressive, hard rock.
Opener ‘Take Me Back Home’ even starts with some fast played banjo that immediately gets you into the Kamchatka mood. After the intro, the banjo’s return somewhere in the middle of the track, combined with the electric guitars. It’s straight away one of the better tracks on the record.
‘Get Your Game On’ is the first single and that is very understandable. It’s somewhat straightforward, with Thomas Juneor Andersson’s vocals being the major attraction. The refrain is brilliantly catchy and also a little bit predictable. It’s not like we haven’t heard anything like it before. Off course the bridge and the solo are very well executed and absolutely show the brilliance that Kamchatka holds.
We meet the very first typical blues track somewhere halfway down the record. ‘Rain’ is a nice song, but it’s just not great. The execution is alright, there is not really something wrong with that, it’s the song in general that has is way too average.
The other more relaxed blues track is second to last, ‘Long Road’. Not that it is the most original track ever made, but it’s way more entertaining than ‘Rain. Dragging slowly through the blues rock landscape, ‘Long Road’ has potential of becoming a new traveling anthem.
‘Mirror’ is my personal favorite on ‘Long Road…’. Most of the song is very simple, but also very effective, while the band really burst out on the refrains and the bridges. What really amazes me at this point on the record is that there are no keyboards present on this album. Maybe that is what makes the record different from the ones before. It’s just bass, drums, guitars and vocals made to a very entertaining rock mix.
In the end ‘Long Road Made Of Gold’ is a very solid record. It’s not the best rock album I’ve heard last months, but it gets pretty close to sticking to your skull like a post-it. It might take a couple of times to get into the record, but when you are there is a fat chance you start singing along most of the lyrics. The guys of Kamchatka are lucky to travel together and keep making great blues rock.
8,2
Released: 25 May 2015
Record-label: Despotz Records
Website: www.kamchatka.se
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Kamchatkaofficial
Tracklist:
- Take Me Back Home
- Get Your Game On
- Made Of Gold
- Human Dynamo
- Rain
- Who’s To Blame
- Mirror
- Slowly Drifting Away
- Long Road
- To You
