Band : Mother Misery
Album title : Standing Alone
Label : Transubstans
Distributor : Clearspot
Release date : 2010
Review : CD

Mother Misery is still up to its usual, which is quite fine by me. Just like on the band's three prior releases, this Swedish rock quartet, uh, rocks.

Standing Alone starts off with a vocal line that could have found a home on a Monster Magnet album before Mother Misery hit tenth gear and charge headlong with their bare-bones and no excuses rock n’ roll. At times these mothers sound a lot like Mustash though their faster sides are far more pronounced. Opening songs like “Dirty little secrets”, “Dying heroes” and “Monochrome” have about as much bite as it does bop, The title track and “Inside the hive” bring the classic rock tuned groove with no hesitation, while “Eyes of the moth” send Mother Misery’s sound to a heavier place than anywhere else on the record. Some of the songs sound more like stadion rock in the style we know, others take on a purely garage feel, though the majority of the 11 songs on the album fall somewhere in between. Overall the songs are straight forward, simple and relatively upbeat.

Standing Alone is a straight-forward album from a straight-forward rock band. It’s strong, it’s honest, it’s grand and it’s in-your face.

85/100

Cosmicmasseur.