Dagger - Mainline riders 7'' Review

Label : High Roller Records
Country : Sweeden
Year : 2013
Format : 7"
Genre : Hard Rock/ Heavy Metal

    Dagger is a hard rock / heavy metal band from Stockholm , Sweeden , formed in 2009 by eperienced musicians Fred Estby (Necronaut , Dismember) David Blomqvist (Dismember) Tobias Cristiansson (Grave , Dismember ) and Jani Kataja (Sideburn) .

   Their first release is this 7" out by High Roller Records titled "Mainline Riders" . Side A of the 7" is a cover of the Nwobhm legends "Quatz" and their song "Mainline riders" . I guess that's a good move , and  , although the band does not give it's own signature on the song  they predispose us for the band's future .

   Side B is the bands first original song "Dark cloud" , and i found it very interesting . It starts from the beginning with a strong riff , followed by some nice vocal lines from Jani Kataja . Catchy chorus and nice bass fills . The sound is very decent (over-production is useless in the genre) and overall is a great song .

  I think Dagger's first work  is very good , but i would like to listen to some more original work of them to have  a complete perspective .

Alcoholator - Coma LP (review)

Genre : Thrash Metal

Label : High Roller Records (LP) EBM Records (Cd)

Release date (in LP) : 15 March 2012

Playing time : 35:07

Acoholator is a new Canadian Thrash band that would make their predecessors ( Exciter , Razor , Voivod etc ) proud of them !

"Coma" is their debut album and it contains 11 songs .

The intro song "Intoxication 101" is instrumental and its like a preview of the whole album - fast , violent riffs meeting mid-paced ones and pounding drums along with nice bass lines . In the second song "Alcoholator" is the first time you listen to the their vocalist (Matt Butcher) who is doing a really good job there , adding another possitive element to the band . There are some interesting solo's in some songs that are combined with killer thrash riffs . My personal favourite of the album would be "Abduction" witch i think is also the fastest song . Between their songs , there is a cover to Exciter's "Pounding Metal" . It's not a bad cover , and obviously the band did it to show their respect to the Canadian scene , but in my opinion it's not the best choice , because it's a very slower song than the others in the album and does not fit very well.

Even if their music is not that close to Tankard , i would say they belong to a similar lyrical direction . This is something you can understand simply by just having a look at the tracklist :

1.Intoxication 101 (instrumental)

2.Alcoholator *

3.Catastrophic Violence

4.Abduction *

5.Pounding Metal

6.The Chamber

7.Liquid Thrash

8.Drink beer or die trying *

9.Break the wall

10.Wasted (all the time )

11. Coma (instrumental) *

I believe "Coma" is a great album for the fans of old school Thrash Metal , but i'm sure it won't dissapoint the new Thrashers .

Songs with a (*) are highly recomended !