Shakra – Mad World

8/10

25 years in the running as we speak. For me, Shakra is a reliable, predictable and delivering band. You know what you get. The span between good and bad releases aren´t that far apart. And the getting is usually good.

This release is a cocky little S.O.B, it comes at you with purpose. It is Shakra, and it is bloody good Shakra.

Starting with the song “Fireline” the mood is set straight away. Good tempo, nice guitars on the soft side. I like the changing in the song, the parts stand out and stand proud on their own. Mark Fox is one of the few singers that can manage to hold an acceptable level and balance between sounding nasal and like he has eaten barbwire for breakfast. Not an easy feat to pull off.

“Too much is not enough” slows it down a little bit but compensates with weight. Lovely build up for an extremely catchy chorus. This theme continues during the album, but it never gets boring. Constantly cool build ups for catchy choruses, nice solos. Just what the doctor ordered.

In my opinion, this kind of music tends to get very boring very fast. Not in this case. Production has managed to keep a good level on letting the right parts of the band take more room when needed. Rhythm section; especially the fat drums in many songs gets to shine and drive songs forward, the guitars makes you dream away to a long open road and a heavy foot in a fast car.

The album has a lot of potential crowd pleasers. Easy to jump and sing along to. Easy digested and easy to like, a whole lot. “Son of fire” and “Turn the light on” fall into this compartment. Both very catchy songs. “Son of Fire” is a great song but from the guitar solo and forward it just explodes.

25 years in the guys have learned a few things. The biggest impression I get from this album is that they still have fun when they are creating their music. In my book the most important lesson to learn as well. I press repeat and continue to bob my head a bit more.