UMUR
"Head Off" is the 7th full-length studio album by Swedish hard/garage rock act The Hellacopters. The album was released in April 2008 and released by various labels around the world (Wild Kingdom, Backstage Alliance, Toy's Factory, Sound Pollution). "Head Off" is at the moment the last studio album by the band as The Hellacopters disbanded amicably in 2008 so the members could move on to other projects.
The 12 tracks on the 35:54 minutes long album are what I would label "positive vibration" hard rock. Or maybe "feel good" hard rock. It´s straight ahead vers/chorus structured and pretty easily accessible. Some tracks are more memorable than others (Check out "Midnight Angels" for a chorus that will stick in your head long after the album is over) but the quality of the songwriting is generally decent (I understand this is actually a cover album though). The same can be said about the musicianship and the sound production. If you ask me the latter could have been a bit more raw, but I guess that´s an aquired taste.
Besides being maybe a bit too polished and lacking some attitude too, "Head Off" is a very enjoyable hard rock album. There´s nothing here you haven´t heard on any of the band´s previous releases and probably also heard better, but The Hellacopters always deliver an earnest and convincing product. This time is no exception. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is deserved.