Swedish quartet OLD MAN’S WILL is one of the new bands on the Swedish rock circuit, formed in 2012 by members of which some may be familiar, at least to those that track band constellations and band projects based in this Scandinavian country. Their self-titled debut album was released in the fall of 2013 on Swedish label Transubstans Records.
As is the case with the greater majority of Transubstans band roster, Old Man’s Will is another band that looks back in time for inspiration, and again it is the 1970’s that is the targeted decade. In this case we have a vocalist that sounds like the bastard child of Robert Plant and Ian Gillan, albeit with a more controlled delivery than any of those, as one of the key elements maintaining a nerve and tension on the various tracks.
Supplementing the vocals we have a drummer that knows his nice and easy just as well as he does his more developed and sophisticated, while bassist Nilsson, at least to my ears, comes across as a man that knows both his G. Butler and his J. Dewar. Guitarist Holmgren caters for the main elements of a retro oriented hard rock sound by way of warm, fuzzy guitars, with a certain fondness for blues-oriented escapades when soloing, otherwise supplying elegant, retro riffs both in dampened and controlled guises as well as with more of a psychedelic oriented touch.
The end result is a band exploring a sound that might be described as a subtle blend of multiple possible inspirations, of which Black Sabbath, Led Zepplin and Robin Trower are some of many names that merits a mention. The band are smart enough to keep their songs fairly short and sweet too, so that none of the songs becomes too repetitive or outstay their welcome.
There’s even an oddity that breaks the mold here, one song that doesn’t belong deep inside the blues based hard rock universe the rest of the album revolves around. And on this piece, called Smidesvals, the guitar is pushed off the stage, replaced by a majestic organ that dominates this song in a Deep Purple kind of way. Another song with a distinct 70’s sheen to it, but exploring a rather different variety of it when compared to the rest of the album.
Originality is a word fairly difficult to use when encountering bands exploring material of this kind. There are elements and details that makes any of them more (or less) than what you describe, but ultimately they explore familiar sounding turf and the main question is if they do so in a good way or not. Old Man’s Will are among the better ones in that context, they play on their strengths, of which they have many, and have made themselves a strong debut album. Not a boundary breaking one, but a production of generally high quality on all levels. If you enjoy bands that explore 1970’s sounding blues based hard rock in a good way, Old Man’s Will is a band you can safely add to any list of bands that merits a check.
My rating: 77/100
