HOUSE OF SHAKIRA — Radiocarbon (review)

HOUSE OF SHAKIRA — Radiocarbon album cover Album · 2019 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Kev Rowland
My wife often bemoans the fact I cannot remember names, birthdays, or even what she told me two minutes previously. But when it comes to music, my brain works better than any supercomputer, and when I saw this band name something clicked in the neural database, as I reviewed their debut album ‘Lint’ all the way back in 1997. At the time, the album made a huge impact on me (and many others), but I lost track of the band not long after that and was somewhat surprised to see they are still going and have now released a total of nine studio albums, as they had totally dropped off my radar. Guitarists Mats Hallstensson and Anders Lundström have been in the band since the very beginning, while this is the fourth album since Andreas Novak (vocals), Basse Blyberg (bass) and Martin Larsson (drums) joined the fold. It is as if nothing has changed, as here we have a band producing melodic hard rock of extremely high quality. Influences pop in and out, most notably Dan Reed Network, and there is even one number where they come across as a milder version of Disturbed, but HoS just keep doing what I remember them doing more than 20 years ago, namely one high quality melodic rock number packed with hooks and great vocals after another. It is polished class which the likes of grunge and extreme forms of metal tried to blast away, yet somehow, they are still here, strutting across the stage and producing an album which is sheer delight.

Harmonies abound, the guitars are just right, the production is solid with everything in just the right place, and one can only hope the move to Frontiers Music is one which is going to pay dividends. There is no doubt that the label is one of the finest in the world when it comes to this style of music, and to my ears House of Shakira perform at the very top level, so this is a match which is very welcome indeed. The band may never have really gone away, just dropped off my personal radar, but I am so very pleased indeed they are back! Awesome.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Merciless Crossover Thrash
BODY COUNT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed