The Grand Trick - Reminence Boulevard (2011)

Swedish band THE GRAND TRICK was formed back in 2003, and they released their debut album two years later in the shape of "The Decadent Session", issued on Swedish label Transubstans Records. "Reminence Boulevard" is their second effort, initially planned for a 2008 release but due to various circumstances this never came to be. Three more years would pass before this production was launched, and then as a digital release only from what I understand.

Musically we're dealing with one more Swedish act exploring the vintage parts of the hard rock realm in this case. If I were to name three bands that might be regarded as definitive providers of musical palette for this band Black Sabbath, Molly Hatchett and Deep Purple would top my list, and for the first and last of this trio specified as from their early 70's respective catalogues.

Downtuned, circulating riff patterns is a rather constant part of the proceedings, and alongside the steady rhythm section the most defining part of the sound explored. It's next to impossible not to think of Iommi and company when listening to these constructions, and when the dampened organ backing the proceedings is in the expressive mode it's hard to imagine that these boys haven't drawn inspirations from Jon Lord and Deep Purple Mk. II. But occasionally The Grand Trick veers out in a slightly different direction however, sometimes with lighter toned riffs and hovering organ less expressive and more supporting, and from time to time wandering light-toned guitar licks with blues-tinged soloing and the piano replacing the organ is the expression of choice for inserts, verse parts of the chorus. And on these occasions there's much more of a southern drawl to this band. And as with most bands utilizing several different expressions in their sound, these tend to blend just as much as being explored each on their own, which at best makes for a highly rewarding experience.

But for this fine band, there's one slight Achilles heel, namely vocalist Cunningham. He's got one of those gruffy voices, which initially will make you think of Lemmy or Algy Ward of Tank. He's also got a slightly higher capacity for melodic delivery, which he does try to capitalize on. And it's when doing this that the Achilles heel appears, his gentler vocal style coming across as something of a blend between aforementioned Lemmy and Sabbath icon Ozzy Osbourne, sharing the peculiarities of both but the strengths of neither. That is, as long as the song requires the vocalist to carry the tune in part or in whole. But when the band hits the most southern oriented parts of their repertoire this slightly drawling vocal presence comes to it's right, accompanied by light melodic guitars and piano it does work fairly well. As it also does in full gruff mode I might add, even if it does sound slightly weird listening to a Lemmy type vocalist beltering out tunes Sabbath could have crafted back in 1970 or thereabouts.

It all adds up to a slightly uneven creation, intriguing and compelling at best and ever so slightly annoying at worst. Fans of this type of material should find a fair few tunes that will be of interest, and at their best they are just as good as the other bands active in what some have coined the retro scene in Sweden. The moments of pure brilliance doesn't appear on this occasion however, and as such I'd describe this as a production that won't have much of an appeal beyond the established fanbase of this style of music.

My rating: 62/100


Track list:
1. Hitman Blues
2. Frequent Flyer
3. Face in the Moon
4. Rollercoaster Ride
5. Eraserhead
6. Daddy Mc the Knife
7. The River Queen
8. When Is Your Hell
9. Dog on a Leash
10. Reminence Boulevard