Search - The Hellacopters :: Grande Rock

Not as good as earlier albums...but it really does rock

06/05/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The past few years Scandinavia has cranked out an awesome amount of kick-ass, low-fi rock. Why? Who knows. But somebody's been listening to their old AC/DC, KISS, MC5, Pagans, and lord knows what else. The best of the bunch are Sweden's Hellacopters and Norway's Gluecifer. The Hellacopters' latest is cleaner and tamer than their first two records. That's not such a good thing. The Hellacopters write great rock songs, but their intensity and energy is what puts them over the top. By cleaning up the album, they've lost a lot of that energy. The production also makes you realize that Hellacopters mastermind Nick Royale (aka Nicke Andersson, the former drummer for Entombed, for you metal fans) can't really, uh, sing. Yell, scream and howl, damn straight. But sing? Still, there's some hugely fine songs here, and even a slightly limp Hellacopters is worth a whole can o' whup-ass. If it sounds like your thing, try to find their earlier records "Supershitty to the Max" and "Payin' The Dues". Anything by Gluecifer (especially "Ridin' the Tiger" and "Soaring With The Eagles...") goes down great too. And never, EVER pass up the chance to see either one live. It's a show you don't want to miss."

Hellacopters' weakest album, made during an awkward transiti

drumwolf | San Francisco | 06/22/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The Hellacopters first started out as a young-loud-and-snotty garage punk band who liked to crank out raw, scuzzed-out Stooges/MC5-influenced riffs. Then their guitarist Dregen left and was replaced by Robert Dahlqvist, and they morphed into a retro '70s-classic-rock style band with some real songwriting and instrumental chops.



GRANDE ROCK was the band's first album with Dahlqvist, and they were still making an awkward transition into their new sound at the time they made this record. As a result, this is by far the Hellacopters' worst record. It's full of tired, warmed-over classic-rock riffs over weak, lackluster and uninspired non-songs. By the time they made their next album HIGH VISIBILITY, they'd developed their songwriting chops, so even though that album continues in the same vein musically, it's a way better album than GRANDE ROCK.



I made the mistake of buying this as my first Hellacopters album, and I was almost scared off from buying anything else from them as a result. They're a great band, but this is not an example of their best work."

"Back In The USA" Meets "Dressed To Kill"

"The Woj" | Downers Grove, IL | 12/11/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"These guys are known as "garage/punk rock" revivalists; getting the bulk of their influences from bands like the MC5 or Iggy & The Stooges. The title of this album may (I think) refer to the infamous Grande Ballroom in Michigan where the MC5 recorded the "Kick Out The Jams" album back in 1968. The guys, however, must have been listening to more Kiss "Alive!" before recording this album than any of those Detroit bands. Many of the songs, melodies, rhythm guitar parts etc. are straight out of the first three Kiss albums ("the originals"). Plus the guitar work is extremely Ace Frehley influenced; the guitar solo on "Welcome To Hell" cops some licks straight from Ace's solo on "C'mon And Love Me" from the "Dressed To Kill Album". And by no means is this a bad thing; the guitar licks, riffs & solos on this album are some of the Hellacopters best.
I am a huge Kiss fan (when Ace is or was in the band) and so many songs on this album remind me of those early Kiss records. In fact if you can imagine a well produced meld of the MC5's "Back In The USA" & Kiss's "Dressed To Kill" you pretty much have the overall vibe of this album. Having grown up with late 60's and early 70's hard rock, I find "Grande Rock" the most enjoyable of my Hellacopters albums. It invites repeated listenings moreso than any of their other albums I own."