A note was emailed out to the staff by our fearless leader a few weeks ago encouraging us to compile our "best-of" lists for the past year and submitting them for publishing on the site. This is an opportunity I would normally jump on as it's a self aggrandizing annual culmination of what I do by the very nature of writing reviews for the site. Who wouldn't want such an opportunity? But, man, I started thinking about how lame 2003 has really been for stellar releases in the largely narrow world of rock and roll in which I choose to stay entertained and I hate to say it; I just can't do it. I can't write a celebratory column on how great 2003 has treated us with regards to new album releases - that is, with a straight face.
But, given the circumstances, I'd feel a bit guilty in missing the assignment while omitting the submission for the best release in 2003 that these ears have heard by way of Gothenburg, Sweden's hard rock/metal upstarts, Mustasch, and their Ratsafari effort. Normally, I'd also accept a heavy dose of lameness catcalls for playing my hand so early in revealing my opinion of a review but this album just needs to be heard and would easily top my very short list of essential albums for the year if I could somehow justify lining up others to follow.
Building off the Swedish Grammy nomination (Best Heavy Metal
album) success Mustasch claimed for themselves in their homeland
with their 2002 release,
Above All, vocalist Ralf Gyllenhammer continues to convince
me he has the best set of pipes in the business today. The vocal
range he possesses would make Ian Astbury envious, the power he
resonates would make Glenn Danzig yearn for his youth, and his
sinisterness has me convinced that Ronnie James Dio would grant him
a lifetime membership into the devil horn club given the
opportunity.
And while Ratsafari has Mustasch further evolving away from the stoner rock formula with their sound in more of a traditional heavy metal vain, ala the sounds of a doomy Black Sabbath as evidenced by the tracks "6:36" or "Alpha Male", the band successfully experiments in turning the track, "Unsafe at any Speed" into a Monster Magnet - "Dopes to Infinity" era hybrid with the cosmic space rock riffage that wonderfully frames Gyllenhammer's vocals. Even the first single released from Ratsafari, "Black City", has to be commended as the recognized track despite the relative simplemindedness of vocals such as "I've got smog in my brain/And gasoline in the veins/Get out of my way/I've got my motor running/Motor running……" only because Gyllenhammer can out-Danzig Glenn himself with the vocal delivery. I'd hate to say that the song dissolves into nothing more than a guilty pleasure as that might suggest Ratsafari be classified as nothing more than a one trick pony.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Ratsafari produces a plummeting down tuned guitar masterpiece with the song "Fredrika". It's the one track on the album that guitarist Hannes Hansson penned in a solo fashion and has me convinced that the strength of the band's songwriting involves his participation. Lyrically, the song is sound but considering the fact that he wrote it for Gyllenhammer to sing and it gets nailed to a T leaves me even more impressed.
If Ratsafari is my album of the year, "Fredrika" may very well be my song of the year.
In assessing Ratsafari's strengths, I'll allow that the band succeeds in making all the parts fit. Mats Johansson's bass line tandems exceptionally well with the back beat that Mats Hansson drum work delivers. Hannes Hansson's guitar solos are well crafted and timed to sustain the momentum of Gyllenhammer's continued forceful vocal pitch throughout the album. Faster playing doesn't necessarily make metal songs better and I'm thoroughly convinced Ratsafari benefits from the fact that the album showcases the dynamic strength of their vocalist without cluttering up the songs with needless instrumental showmanship.
My "best-of" list may have been short this year but I can honestly say that Ratsafari would have been at the top of any list I could have written for the past several years. It's one of those rare releases that grabbed my attention immediately the first time I heard it and has only become better with repeated listens.