Prog-Nose

Release: 2009-09-18 Style: hard rock Label: B & B Records Website: Contact: Playing Time: 49:35 Cat. N°: BCD029 Review by: Misha Translated by: Rating: 5/10

Full title: Operation Manual - The Guillotine Model Drama

Black Bonzo is yet another child in the Swedish rock family. I don’t know whether you already realize it or not, even if the Swedes themselves realize it, but the country of Sweden can easily claim to have the biggest density of rock groups per capita in the world. I wonder when the number of rock groups there will exceed the total population number.

In my listening schedule, Swedish rock has already claimed about a half of the allowed time. Well, this does not include time I spend on fusion. I guess, the cultural, political, social and economic environment there is just right, making the ground fertile and the atmosphere humid, so the rock bands pop up above the ground, just like mushrooms in the autumn forest, after a good rain.

Speaking of this particular child of the big family, I personally don’t think they will make my listening schedule balance tip even more to the Swedish side. Although almost everything is right in their a little raw hard rock, coming straight from the beginning of 70-s; there are even some nice tunes here and there and the playing is everything but unprofessional. Only it doesn’t inspire me a lot. There is nothing I didn’t hear before. I would like to put it this way: it is a good rock band, that would never have had a chance to compete with Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple or Black Sabbath back then.

I personally find the second BB album, “Sound of the Apocalypse” (2007) a little more fun. They were a promising group then. Now it seems, they slide down and lose the momentum.

Most of all, the lyrics make me sceptical. Some even look more like brainwashing. You know, when you repeat something long enough, the listener will believe everything you say. Let me give you a few examples here.

“War Machine” is at first sight a nice ballad, but one can’t avoid listening to these lines: “Beware of the war machine it’s big and black and oh so mean…” This line is repeated long enough to get the message perfectly clear. Add to this an endlessly repeating melody line, and you will understand that on the second listen I cannot restrain my finger from tipping the remote control for the next number. Boring.

Another example is “Supersonic Man”. This particular warning is repeated quite a few times: “I am a supersonic man someday soon you’ll understand…”

I don’t think I am alone when I state that lyrics in a rock song, just like any other poetry form, should not put all points above the i. There should be some room left for the listener, to fill in the spaces, to engage his or her own imagination. Otherwise, it is not a good poetry, but a schoolbook. Actually, this applies for any other kind of art, all forms of realism excluded, I guess. Or may be, there is something like realistic rock?

Tracklist: 1. Guillotine Drama (5:29) 2. Because I Love You (6:00) 3. Zephyr (4:55) 4. Sudden Changer (4:28) 5. War Machine (4:11) 6. How Do You Feel (8:05) 7. Tell Me The Truth (3:50) 8. Nest Of Vipers (4:27) 9. Supersonic Man (8:10)

Musicians: - Mike Israel / drums & percussion - Magnus Lindgren / vocals - Joachim Karlsson / guitars - Nicklas Ahlund / organ, piano, Mellotron & synthesizers - Anthon Johansson / bass, vocals