Sideburn
#Eight

A Swiss band with not much in terms of sideburns, other than the name of course. They have managed to make eight albums under the Sideburn moniker, counting today’s release aptly named #Eight. And for that the quartet has accomplished thirteen tracks where one is a cover penned by the late Lemmy Kilmister and friends, so you can probably guess where the sound of this band is going. Not so much in the direction of Mustasch but more in terms of their countrymen Krokus or Gotthard but also the likes of Motörhead and their peers.

Classic hardrock with decent energy and a rather classic raw sound with good songs and a rather unoriginal approach, they sound a lot like anything else. I would say that if you have heard anything the band has done before you will know how this sounds because this is one of those bands who doesn’t change and who doesn’t evolve. It is not really a band you listen to when you want to hear something fresh and exciting, their music is a safe bet for those who fear change and want everything to stay the same. It is a classic heavy rock album with all that entails, and a rather typical exchange of songs.

I would describe this as neither better nor worse than what the band has done before, that means that we have a rather good hardrock album here. It is easy to take to thanks to its familiarity, which also makes it a little bit forgetful. I guess it works rather well for the people who usually listen to this kind of music and have you liked Sideburn in the past you will certainly like this album. But from a more critical standpoint it is more difficult to claim anything but mediocrity, especially from a more creative viewpoint.

In the end I think this is a rather average, or slimly above average hardrock album with pretty good songs, pretty good sounds and pretty good everything. You can listen to it for a while and then it takes a shorter while for you to forget all about it. Sideburns number eight is more or less the same as their previous seven, good but not really that impressive.

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