06-02-2003, 12:47 AM
Pawnshop - Cruise 'o' Matic (Beard of Stars Records)
by Chris Barnes
OK, this review is about a year and a month in the making. I don't know why it took me so long to sit down and listen to this album. Especially given the fact that their previous release, Aloha From Saturn (http://www.hellridemusic.com/bands/pawnshop/pawnshop_review.shtml), didn't come out of my CD player for a year and a half. I took that thing everywhere like a mental patient.
Without a doubt, Pawnshop is on par with Thulsa Doom as the best rock act in Norway. I'll tell you why, and it's very simple. Two things... the songs rock and swing like a runaway ten-ton steam locomotive. Second, the songs are chock full of something that is missing from many of their global rock counterparts... Charisma. Vocalist Kjell Undheim has one of the most distinctive whiskey, cigarette and amphetamine voices in all of rock. BK Saestad's guitar style is all swagger (not the egotistical bred kind, the alcoholic kind) and downtuned glory. The band alternately rock out ("Blissed Out") and space out ("Living Zombie"), proof positive that Pawnshop isn't any kind of one trick pony or cheap-arse Kyuss clone.
Pawnshop is the new breed of Viking Rock... no longer is it grog, swords and sailing ships. These viking lads are armed with pills, alcohol and pure stomp 442-driven speed. This is what rock n' roll is all about, in my book. Screw "stoner rock". This is a great rock record, period.
Track Listing
1. Blissed Out
2. Mean Machine
3. Las Vegas
4. Space Cadillacs
5. Coma Cluster
6. Thailand
7. Baby Bitch
8. Cruise'o'Matic
9. Year of Pleasure
10. Living Zombie
Purchase Cruise 'o' Matic (http://www.smartcart.com/hellride/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=HM-451) and Aloha From Saturn (http://www.smartcart.com/hellride/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=HM-129) at the Hellride Music Super Store
Listen to a Real Audio sample of Blissed Out (http://www.hellridemusic.com/audio/pawnshop2.ram)
Read the Hellride Music interview (http://www.hellridemusic.com/bands/pawnshop/pawnshop_interview.shtml) with Pawnshop
Visit the Pawnshop website at www.pawnshop.no
by Chris Barnes
OK, this review is about a year and a month in the making. I don't know why it took me so long to sit down and listen to this album. Especially given the fact that their previous release, Aloha From Saturn (http://www.hellridemusic.com/bands/pawnshop/pawnshop_review.shtml), didn't come out of my CD player for a year and a half. I took that thing everywhere like a mental patient.
Without a doubt, Pawnshop is on par with Thulsa Doom as the best rock act in Norway. I'll tell you why, and it's very simple. Two things... the songs rock and swing like a runaway ten-ton steam locomotive. Second, the songs are chock full of something that is missing from many of their global rock counterparts... Charisma. Vocalist Kjell Undheim has one of the most distinctive whiskey, cigarette and amphetamine voices in all of rock. BK Saestad's guitar style is all swagger (not the egotistical bred kind, the alcoholic kind) and downtuned glory. The band alternately rock out ("Blissed Out") and space out ("Living Zombie"), proof positive that Pawnshop isn't any kind of one trick pony or cheap-arse Kyuss clone.
Pawnshop is the new breed of Viking Rock... no longer is it grog, swords and sailing ships. These viking lads are armed with pills, alcohol and pure stomp 442-driven speed. This is what rock n' roll is all about, in my book. Screw "stoner rock". This is a great rock record, period.
Track Listing
1. Blissed Out
2. Mean Machine
3. Las Vegas
4. Space Cadillacs
5. Coma Cluster
6. Thailand
7. Baby Bitch
8. Cruise'o'Matic
9. Year of Pleasure
10. Living Zombie
Purchase Cruise 'o' Matic (http://www.smartcart.com/hellride/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=HM-451) and Aloha From Saturn (http://www.smartcart.com/hellride/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=HM-129) at the Hellride Music Super Store
Listen to a Real Audio sample of Blissed Out (http://www.hellridemusic.com/audio/pawnshop2.ram)
Read the Hellride Music interview (http://www.hellridemusic.com/bands/pawnshop/pawnshop_interview.shtml) with Pawnshop
Visit the Pawnshop website at www.pawnshop.no