Artist: The Quill
Label: SPV Records
Release Date: 6/11/02
Rating: 4 Skulls
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Title: Voodoo Caravan Artist: The Quill Label: SPV Records Release Date: 6/11/02
Rating: 4 Skulls |
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Reviewed by Requiem (10/22/02):
It seems that any sort of heavy rock band with a modern sound these days is dubbed as stoner rock. Why is this? I guess it's just a tag that stuck with the flood of bands that arrived within the past decade that had a soft spot for hard-edged rock and an affinity for the magical green leaf. And as with any genre, the ratio of good to bad was about 10/90. This statistic leads me to not look forward to an album that is tagged as such. Now, as I can see The Quill potentially being labeled under this genre, they are one of the few exceptions to the rule. The Quill offers a much more diverse and interesting sound than the rest of the sheep, who are more concerned about their MAC Truck mesh hats and stoner image than creating solid rock tunes. While craftily juxtaposing the sounds of stoner, grunge and classic rock, The Quill have come up with an album that is full of hooks and diverse song arrangements resulting in a hard rock record that stands its ground and then some. Plus they are from Sweden, the land that breeds musicians by the second, and grade A ones at that.The main element that floored me off the bat was the strength and control behind vocalist Magnus Ekwall. I'm sorry, but the last time I heard a singer with this much balls it must have been on the Lost Horizon debut. However, instead of catering toward the world of fairy tales and power metal anthems, Magnus should be placed aside top-notch vocalists such as Bruce Dickinson, Chris Cornell, Layne Staley and Ray Gillen respectively. Not only does he resemble the aforementioned vocalists from time to time; the band follows accordingly and alters their sound from song to song giving the album a sense of individuality. All in all they have a musical flow similar to Massachusetts' own Medium. Both bands have enough of their own vision to create an honest sound.
The album's title track opens with more or less a straight up stoner rock sounding effort while "Sell No Soul" has more of a Bruce Dickinson rock approach. Especially the vocal delivery reminds me of the Skunkworks sessions. The guitars and drums follow in a Deep Purple-ish fashion providing some hefty rock rhythms. "Shapes of the Afterlife" is graced with an ultra fuzzy guitar tone and a Kyuss-y verse, which pummels its way into a unforgettable chorus that makes this tune one of the album's finest moments. "Until Earth is Bitter Gone" is a trippy, laid back number which, courtesy of the vocals, sounds like it could be a resurrected Alice in Chains tune. Put on your blues shoes for "(Wade) Across the Mighty River" and "Travel Without Moving" and reminisce to the blues sensation that Ray Gillen and Co. had going with Badlands. Let the truth be told, this band has its obvious influences, but who doesn't in the world of rock. The thing is The Quill bring everything together with style and integrity, unlike most of those who revel in mediocrity. This is where the rock is at, don't fool yourself.
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