Review: KROKUS “Dirty Dynamite” 2013

Artist – KROKUS

Album – Dirty Dynamite

Label – Sony

Year – 2013

“Dirty Dynamite” tracklisting:

Hallelujah Rock’n’Roll
Go Baby Go
Rattlesnake Rumble
Dirty Dynamite
Let The Good Times Roll
Help
Better Than Sex
Dog Song
Yellow Mary
Bailout Blues
Live Ma Life
Hardrocking Man

KROKUS is a hard rock/heavy metal band from Switzerland, formed in Solothurn in 1974 by Chris von Rohr and Tommy Kiefer. I only discovered this band recently via an email from record company, but if you knew my situation you would understand. Pure Hard Rock ‘N’ Roll is a description for the band’s music. KROKUS was formed in 1974 as a primarily prog rock act, but after seeing the legendary Australian rockers AC/DC in the late ‘70s, they changed their mind and continued their Hard Rock journey, which it seems is influenced heavily by AC/DC.

KROKUS have released sixteen studio albums, two live, seven compilation albums and twenty two singles up to now. The band has recently announced that they are going to release their seventeenth studio album “Dirty Dynamite” on February 22, 2013. An album which I ‘ll explain why I believe their music is influenced heavily by AC/DC later. In keeping with the tradition of Hard Rock, this album is about girls, sexy lovers and muscular men rocking hard.

The “Dirty Dynamite” album starts with the track named ‘Hallelujah Rock n Roll,’ which is absolutely a song that AC/DC never wrote. From the first second you will start feeling that you are listening to an AC/DC song, reminiscent of the ‘80’s era, but with a modern voice. Emphasized electric guitars with a hard rock distortion, sometimes with over drive, the different chords and solos, which are mostly in the Pentatonic or Blues scale, are played extremely well. Also, vocalist Marc Storace sings with high notes, in a gravelly style in most of the songs. In fact, it’s very much AC/DC-like, the similar distorted guitars, rhythms, basses, drums and solos.

My favourite rock guitar techniques can be heard in all the songs in this album, for example – “Go Baby Go” or “Let The Good Times Roll” which gives a feeling of speed and strength. The third song named ‘Rattlesnake Rumble’ makes me think of Brian Johnson singing for ZZ-TOP. Also, the guitar riffs in this track reminds me a little of “Tush” by the aforementioned. The fourth song and title track is another point where the band seemed to switch to AC/DC mode. The sixth track is a cover of the title track from the BEATLES album “Help” which was released as the BEATLES ‘s fifth studio album in 1965. All I can say is that they cover this song very well. Another notable song in this album, which is my favourite track too, is named “Hardrocking Man.” The track sounds like a mixture of pure Hard Rock and Southern Rock, resulting in a great classic sounding song, great guitar riffs with a very good sounding bass. The guitars and bass play the same notes during the riffs, as well as interesting guitar solos in the Southern Rock style, which will really appeal to the listener who appreciates this type of music.

As my final word, KROKUS ‘s “Dirty Dynamite” is a pure AC/DC-ish Hard Rock album. If you ride a Harley Davidson bike with your sexy girl or if would like to, this album definitely belongs to you. My rating for this album is 8.5/10. Now I should say goodbye to you, as I want to start a day dream about me driving a classic Cadillac in the desert whilst listening to KROKUS ‘s Dirty Dynamite. Till later, take care and keep on rockin’.