A generation after Iggy & The Stooges first laid waste to America syouth, a new crop of disenfranchised garage bands have made astand about 4,100 miles east of Detroit Stockholm, Sweden is theepicenter for bands like The Hellacopters, Backyard Babies, andThe Hives. Like their countrymen, the Sonic Negroes cut a path ofdestruction that crossed Europe, the Atlantic, and now hits the US.Their second full-length release is a seedy excursion down the backalleys of Swedish garage punk, so look for the Negroes to burn up theEast Coast this fall with another round of US shows.
L**N
Unswedishly Swedish
I got this album expecting aural mayhem in the form of no-nonsense riffs and a kick-in-the-gut attitude and I certainly wasn't disappointed. Better still, I was pleasantly surprised, as I noticed that unlike so many other bands from the Swedish wave, these guys know how to write proper lyrics. Take it from me - I cringe when I hear the pityful drivel my fellow countrymen usually write. But the Sonic Negroes are different. You want original catch phrases? You got it! You want intelligent, coherent meaning? You got that too - but don't think for a second we're talking about some over-intellectual crap here. It's wake-up-with-your-face-in-the-urinal dark humor that'll convince you that these guys know what they're talking about. And when lead vocalist Hell-Man tells he's not like anybody else, you better believe it. These guys are a step up from the rest.
