Vocanova
Radical Waves

They are surfing on radical waves, the Icelandic trio that calls itself Volcanova. Pretty good name for a band from a nation littered with volcanoes, and a place of spectacular nature as well, with or without radical waves. Radical Waves is the debut album of this trio and it comes with ten tracks and around 45 minutes of music where the opening tracks welcomes you to the album – that’s jolly nice of them. And they even offer a track called Super Duper Van, something to play in your great van. The artwork is great, so what about the music?

It can be described in terms like stoner rock/metal, they have good energy and raw power. I think they are edgy enough to work, good production and decent variation over the tracks. Nothing ground-breaking in any regard, the vocals are powerful and strong, and they work really well. It feels like a well-crafted album from the start to the finish and it probably presses all the right buttons for those into the stoner genre. The playing time is sensible and will not seem to be too long, although some will probably want it to be at least as radical as the artwork, but it isn’t really there.

Radical Waves is one of those albums that you can buy only for the funny artwork and it is not a negative that it will feel pretty good when you get the urge to play through it some day. I think that it is a pretty good album, but not really an outstanding one, it works but will probably not make much of a dent in the history of music. That doesn’t detract from the fact that it is a well-made debut and an album that works quite well.

If you consider yourself a fan of the stoner variety of music, it is a good bet that you will find this album pretty appealing. It works well and I have enjoyed playing through it a few times now. But at the same time as I write that, I think that I miss an outstanding hit song to play in my super duper van (if I had one). The lack of outside the box thinking can also be somewhat of a negative, it feels like a good album that just need something more exciting to really take off.

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