Heavy Roller – Heavy Roller (L.P.) Thong Knife Records

I’ve always had a soft spot for Australian hard rock ever since I heard Stevie Wright’s “Evie” back in 1974. Soon enough, AC/DC popped up, and on it went with bands like Rabbitt, Taste, and later on excellent bands like Tracer, Electric Mary, Wolfmother, and Twenty Two Hundred. Add a heavy Roller to this lot. A new four-piece from Downunder that rocks big time! The band’s self-released debut kicks off with “Heavy Roller” in s powerful mid-tempo vein, followed by no-frills up-tempo heavy rock ‘n roller “Jug”, that will give fellow Aussie’s Airborne a run for their money. The band consists of Luke Earthling on guitar, Cam Roach behind the drums, Dwain du Plessis on vocals and guitar, and Gater Springate on bass and backing vocals. “Barfly” kicks the album into AC/DC style gear, and you can almost feel the beer start flowing. “Getting By” is a super groovy, bluesy rocker with cool funky guitar work and Dwain’s gritty vocals on top. Love it! Side A closes with the bluesy stomping rocker “The Raven” with harmonica on top. On to side B, we head straight into the heavy rocking “Undead World”. An excellent guitar chugging number at a medium pace. “Scavengers Delight” continues in a mid-tempo but still pretty intense, and in the chorus, they rock it out. It made me think of what The Hellacopters would’ve sounded like if they were an Australian band. “Deceiver” again gets the riff machine moving with an almost punkish intensity. “Demon In Me” brings it back down quite a bit to a very smooth but still kinda Iggy Pop-style number, which breaks out into total mayhem in the chorus. A great driving rocker! Side B finishes at full throttle with up-tempo party rocker “Burning Dollars, All in all, an excellent debut from these Aussie rockers. I am already looking forward to their next release!

Link: https://heavyrollerrock.bandcamp.com/album/heavy-roller