]
French rockers Berserkers have a sound it is simply impossible not to find a healthy appetite for. Hard rock in character with captivating and open traces of seventies/eighties bred rock led by the magnetic enterprise of keys; it is a masterfully compelling tapestry of sound and lively adventure flooding the band’s new album Lock & Load.
The Bordeaux band’s sound is certainly at odds with expectations when approaching a proposal called Berserkers and a release titled Lock & Load but swiftly persuades as the 2009 formed outfit entangle ears and imagination in their flavoursome energy and enterprise. Founded by bassist/vocalist Julien “Julius” Logeais and keyboardist Julien “Judy” Rosello, the band’s original line-up was completed by guitarist Julien “Pix” Lamy, guitarist Arthur Orsini, and drummer Leo Calzetta. 2013 saw the departure of Rosello and the addition of Hammond organ toting Valentin “Val” Sarthou with the debut Berserkers album unveiled the following year. Following its release, the quintet became a quartet with Lamy leaving to concentrate on another project, Lock & Load the first encounter from the foursome and a striking offering it is too.
The album grabs ears from the off, starting with a bang as Outlaw lures attention with a great bait of drums quickly joined by the glorious and distinctive flavour of Sarthou’s Hammond. Swiftly the full flavour of the band and album’s sound is coursing through ears, the songs bluesy and seventies spiced hard rock ‘n’ roll a swirling yet punchy kaleidoscope of sound. It is a dramatic opening to the album which simply captivates body and imagination with ease; virulent and aggressive funk/blues ‘n’ roll rather easy to breed a forceful appetite for.
The following Blind Taste is of the same ilk but instantly revealing its own funky swagger and melodic character led by Logeais’ fine vocals and the ever persuasive enterprise of Sarthou’s keys. A touch more restrained than its predecessor yet with an energy and zeal to its magnetic stroll, Orsini’s guitar adds extra sonic endeavour to the weave of grooves and melodies courted by robust rhythms before the outstanding Vampire Lady teases and taunts with its seventies blues ‘n’ soul hued dance.
The brooding tone of Logeais’ bass is one highly appetising feature of It’s Up To You next; it’s swinging shadowed bound presence even outshining the flavoursome weave of the Hammond and matched by the energetically boisterous swings of Calzetta amidst the flaming exploits of Orsini’s guitar. For personal tastes Lock & Load is at its peak across the first quartet of songs but still providing plenty to be highly pleased by from hereon in starting with The Foolish Man and its almost prowling gait and in turn the feisty romp of Rock Save The World which pretty up lives up to expectations cast by its title. The track is an unrelenting rocker; a powerfully infectious anthemic stomp even if its originality is less apparent than other tracks within the album.
The song’s rousing presence is followed and contrasted by the calmer waters of Heroes Are Back In Town though it too has an eager nature which gives the song real energy as vocals give it catchiness and keys charm. With Orsini’s craft on guitar highlighted in another great solo, the song is another which is thickly enjoyable if not quite matching those earlier tracks while Starlight City shows itself a tenacious and powerfully infectious proposition almost bubbling with the band’s flavoursome rock ‘n’ roll once more richly coloured by the inventive presence of the Hammond.
Completed by the rhythmically enslaving and melodically sultry Hangöverhead, a song bringing the album to an as potent and compelling a close as it started, Lock & Load is thorough and lingering enjoyment across a collection of songs which light ears and imagination. It needs little time to tempt and persuade while suggesting it is just the very tasty appetiser for bigger and bolder things ahead from Berserkers; something to definitely recommend seventies and hard rock fans check out.
Lock & Load is out now across most online stores.
http://www.berserkers.eu/ https://www.facebook.com/berserkersofficial
Pete RingMaster 21/09/2016
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
Opening up with Digital Mannequin, the EP hits the ground running. Led by the most irritably growling bassline to get an appetite for, the song is soon driving through ears with the riffs of guitarists Danny Marsh and Dave Gadd stirring the senses as vocalist Paul Smith roars. It is a thick and almost muggy assault with every element crisp and precise within the infectious tempest, throughout Marsh’s grooves entwining the imagination, binding the sinew swung beats of Aaron Grainger and the persistently grouchy tone of Will Kirk’s bass.
Was there any specific idea behind the forming of the band and also in what you wanted it and your sound to offer?
It is not easy for any new band to make an impact regionally let alone nationally and further afield. How have you found it?
Train Wreck hits the groove from its first breath, pulsating rhythms providing the hypnotic rails for spicy grooves and feisty riffs to roll along. Within seconds, body and spirit are as compelled to get involved as ears, the dusty tones of vocalist/bassist Joey Class leading the way as spirals of bluesy flaming infects grooves and flirtatious melodies cast by guitarists Damien Kage and Johnny Gibbons.
Opening up with Dance On Your Grave, the EP quickly has ears attentive with the opening challenge of vocalist Quentin Barthes-Villegas within a controlled mesh of sound. There is a sense that things are itching to erupt even in those first seconds, and so they do as swinging grooves and rhythms unite with feisty riffs and the thick beats of Alex Roussel. Like a punk infused mix of Foo Fighters and Velvet Revolver, the song snarls and bites with its virulent catchiness and Barthes-Villegas’ rousing vocal delivery around which guitarists Charl’ Roussel and Renaud Satre cast an infectious web of hooks and grooves perfectly tempered by the throbbing strings of bassist Nico Helinger.
It is a potent beginning to Fake Mistake more than backed by Fire Below, a track veined with the sonic and melodic enterprise of guitarists Kina and Guarro. Embracing blues and classic hues in its hard rock canter, it also slips into unpredictable moments of imagination to add further appealing spice to its body before Stay The Night provides a seventies scented melodic rock shuffle. Highly infectious in no time, the song swings and seduces with increasing adventure and individual craft, Lava’s great dark basslines the thick constant veining it all.