Volbeat - Rock The Rebel-Metal The Devil

Published April 25 2007

*=Staff's pick	The Human Instrument Mr. And Mrs. Ness The Garden's Tale* Devil Or The Blue Cat's Song Sad Man's Tongue* River Queen* Radio Girl A Moment Forever Soulweeper #2 You Or Them BOA [JDM]

Genre	Rock 'n' Roll	Michael Poulsen	Vocals
Tracks	11	Michael Poulsen	Guitar
Runningtime	43 Min.	Franz Hellboss	Guitar
Label	Mascot Records	Anders Kjönholm	Bass
Release	23 March 2007	Jon Larsen	Drums
Country	Denmark	-	Keyboard
Similar artists	D:A:D, System Of A Down

Rock 'n' Roll with some dirty attitude and yet great variation will always grasp my attention. Volbeat is one of those bands that are hard to categorise. And, as with all bands with some true originality they have claimed their own genre, 'Elvis metal 'n' roll'. After their debut album The Strength, The Sound, The Songs (2005) they became world famous in their home country Denmark. Sweden is yet to conquer at large. Frontman Michael Poulsen is earlier known from Dominus.

The Human Instrument starts a bit strange, with some 'semi rap' and more aggressive parts, which seem inspired by System Of A Down. A Moment Forever is an even better example of this a bit later. Mr. And Mrs. Ness comes closer to something Metalllica could have done in their 'Load' sessions. The Garden's Tale takes off on yet another track, as pop punk in the vein of Green Day. A real hooky one as well. The intro to Sad Man's Tounge is very… 'Elvis', then it all bursts out in a combination of Motörhead and punk. River Queen is yet another tune where you hear similarities in singing style between Michael Poulsen and James Hetfield.

Radio Girl is most 'metal' of the songs, and that actually suits Volbeat and Poulsen's voice the least. It simply appears a bit monotonous in that format. Soul Weeper and You Or Them have a bit more modern touch and my interest and thus my blessings are somewhat lost. But at large it is talented, varied rock/metal music with an original touch that you don't hear often these days. I can only guess, but I have a feeling that this would work even better live.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
8	9	6	6	7

Summary
7,5 chalices of 10 - David