I really have a soft spot for Märvel (a.k.a. The Barons of High Energy Rock and Roll) – the masked men who hail from Sweden… but is it really that long? Damn it really is – formed in 2002 the clock has finally clicked over on the band that manage to sound like Kiss, Cheap Trick, The Wildhearts, Sabbath and UFO simultaneously whilst at the same time looking like a cross between 60’s vintage Batman villains and the Hamburgler!
Don’t let any of that fool you though these guys have always been all class and all cool, and for a three-piece they squeeze out more Rock and Roll than most…. um…. four pieces do… So whether you like to Rock to the uber catchy opener of ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ or Roll to the early Kiss-tastic riffing of ‘Remember’ you’ll find something to love here. Hell, if you’ve not heard of the band before then you’ll be sure that you have struck aural gold! If you’re familiar with the songs then the breath of new life provided by the new mastering by Magnus Lindberg (The Hellacopters, Imperial State Electric, Cult Of Luna, The Datsuns, Tribulation, Lucifer) is worth checking out!
Honestly what’s not to love here? To celebrate the anniversary Märvel the band made up of John Steen (The King), Ulrik Bostedt (Speedo) and Tony Samuelsson (The Vicar) have put together ‘Double Decade’ which features 23 songs from previous Märvel releases with a couple of newbies and a few rarities (‘Catch 22’ and ‘Turn the Page’ teh new ones are both mixed by Robert Pehrsson.) added for good measure! With nine very fine albums to choose from the balance here is just right and you can’t fault the selections but to be honest that back catalogue is still worth additional plundering!
Everything here though is great I love the instrumental version of Hellacopters ‘Devil Stole The Beat From The Lord’, and if you’ve never dabbled you’ll love that opening salvo and the sheer infectious early Garage Kiss stomp of tracks like ‘I Wanna Know You (Just A Little Bit Better)’ or the Sabbath meets Budgie ‘Danish Rush’, the Pop Punk Rock of ‘Goddess on the Loose’, or the closing salvo of ‘Motherfucker’ and ‘The Boots are Made for Flying’. Honestly I could pick any track and extoll its considerable virtues!
You need Märvel in your life!
Tracklist:
- The Hills Have Eyes
- Remember
- The Effort
- Thunderblood Heart
- A Killing View
- Bring It On
- I Wanna Know You (Just A Little Bit Better)
- Five Smell City
- Danish Rush
- All Over the News
- T.N.H.
- Goddess On the Loose
- Catch 22
- Son Of a Gypsy
- Ambassador Of Fantastic
- Ain’t Gonna Last
- Spider
- Turn the Page 02:56 video
- The Devil Stole the Beat from the Lord
- Pyrrhic Victory
- Eight Arms to Hold You
- Motherfucker
- These Boots are Made for Flying