honeymoon disease

(9/10) It was almost to date one year ago when Swedish powerhouse Honeymoon Disease rocked the Gebr. De Nobel, Leiden, acted as opening act for Zodiac. The show that this quartet nailed down was an impressive one since you could not only listen to great rock music; you could also sense and fell the power of rock. It was hard to believe that this band, at that time, had just one release Honeymoon Disease in the open.

Twelve months after this exciting show the Gothenburg-based outfit comes up with their highly anticipated sophomore album entitled “Partly Human, Mostly Beast”.  The longplayer comprises twelve new hardrock smashers, unveiling the joy of rock. Honeymoon Disease has more than a great sense for big melodies. Each of the integrated hooks does its job in perfection, making the album to a great listening experience. It’s the horn section in “Tail Twister”, the pumping bass, being the motor for “Coal Burnin’” and  mercilessness of a speedster like “Fly Bird, Fly High”, making this album to an extremely positive one. Each of the tunes includes such a great vibe, breathing the pure spirit of rock’n’roll. Honeymoon Disease swings a hot bat at the moment with songs that really kick ass - from the heavy grooving "Night By Night” to “Rymvalds”, showing the soulful side of Honeymoon Disease.

Retro rock with a strong vintage expression gained some popularity over the last years, with many bands surfing this wave. The beauty with this power outfit though is that they found their own little niche by being 100% authentic with full pleasure for what they are doing – driving on the fast lane of rock’n’roll.

“Partly Human, Mostly Beast” is an awesome release that ask for many spins on your record player. It's only rock'n'roll and I like it.

(9/10)

Tracklist:

1.  Doin' it Again

2. Only Thing Alive

3. Tail Twister

4. Rymdvals

5. Needle In Your Eye

6. Fly Bird, Fly High

7. Calling You

8. Four Stroke Woman

9. Night By Night

10. It's Alright

11. Coal Burnin'

12. Electric Eel

Label: The Sign

Genre: Hardrock

Release Date EU: October 27th, 2017

It was a year ago when Zodiac, Raveneye and Honeymoon Disease brought some warm and powerful rock to Leiden, Netherlands. By the way, don't miss Honeymoon Disease's upcoming release. Stay tuned for the review.

Swedish hardrock unit Honeymoon Disease has a new album in the pipeline. It's entitled "Partly Human, Mostly Beast"and comes via The Sign/Cargo. Release date is October 27th, this year.

New Year's Eve is an excellent moment in time to look back on the last 12 months and what's better than scrolling through photos made that year. I challenged myself in choosing my 12 favorites, which was not a too easy exercise. Anyhow, I've chosen these photos from various shows in 2016.

Have a good start in 2017 and keep on rocking. Thanks for all your support \m/

All photos by Markus Wiedenmann

Just in case you want to see them all - HERE they are.

Leiden is a city in The Netherlands that is well known for their university. But 'leiden' also means 'suffering' in German, a double meaning that describes this Thursday evening very well.

It was at no point suffering to be part of this concert with three bands that are all great. The part that was disappointing was the amount of fans that came to Gebr. de Nobel that night. Eventhough the guys played the smaller of the two rooms there was enough space for everybody. Actually we are talking about 25-30 fans of ambitious rock music that found their way to Leiden that night. Thinking about a vivid student city in combination with some good rock'n'roll bands should actually lead to a much more packed venue.

Anyhow, that's what it was and everybody who wasn't there missed a great evening in rock.

It was Honeymoon Disease from Gothenburg, Sweden that had to go on stage first. The two girls and two boys released a pretty good record a few months ago. Now they had the chance to present it live and they used the momentum. When I saw them rocking the venue I was reminded of '77, partly due to the music but more because of the energy level they spread. Honeymoon Disease split roles quite clearly. The boys are the hard working rhythm section that makes the engine run while the girls, with their guitars, took the responsibility for the entertainment factor.

All four together nailed down a show that couldn't be much better for an opener. It's not that easy to move on a small stage but the band used every square meter for constant action and pure rock postures, ending in an grande finale with both girls laying on the ground for the last chords. A great start.

Fortunately also RavenEye could draw on some great songs, most of them from the recently released debut. The fact that the trio has been touring a lot, being opening act for bands like Slash and Deep Purple, was very present. These guys played many shows together which led to a tight performance of cool songs. This band is a strong unit that stands like a rock when it comes to the sound. The performance instead couldn't be more dynamic. I mentioned the small stage and it was obviously too small for this trio from Milton Keynes. Singer/guitarist Oli Brown was the first one that went right into the audience, performing from there and a while ago it was him and Aaron Spiers, playing piggy-back, surrounded by very surprised fans. Not to forget Brown, standing all of a sudden on the bass drum for kicking off a song. All this underlines the rising attention for these guys from the UK. I guess we will hear more of the them.

Than it was time for Zodiac. I had some hope that there might be more fans filling the venue for the four-piece from Germany. This hope was gone in a second since the amount of rock enthusiasts stayed the same during the entire concert. It must have been a bit of a 'suffering', or more a disappointment for the band but this fact didn't have any impact on their performance. It shows the professional attitude of the four guys playing for 20 people as they would have done it for 200.

That Zodiacs songs are good ones goes without saying. The guys recently released their newest album that comes with awesome music. Some of it, like the cool title track "Grain of Soul", has been played that night, mixed with older stuff. Having re-release the debut EP in a limited vinyl version means that Zodiac also added "Upon the Stone" to the setlist. All in all it was a well done choice of band highlights that peaked in an extended version of "Coming Home" from the band's debut "A Bit of Devil". This tune belongs to the best ones Zodiac has ever wrote. Starting slowly and building up to an immense rocker, that's what it is about and it's a great closer of a pretty cool show.

Mentioning 'show', Zodiac isn't about fancy effects and a lot of decoration. These guys have excellent music to offer which speaks on its own. Therefor it didn't matter that the stage was kept pretty dark, with some shades of red and blue. It's the music that does the job, also on the Thursday night in Leiden.

In the end it wasn't 'suffering' at all for all the ones that visited the show. Zodiac definitely brought it home and I hope that there will be some more fans in Eindhoven because one thing is for for sure: Zodiac and the two support bands deserve far more attention than what they had to face in Leiden.

​Setlist Zodiac:

1. Rebirth by Fire
2. Sinner
3. Free
4. Animal
5. Down
6. A Bit of Devil
7. Blue Jean Blues (ZZ Top cover)
8. Diamond Shoes
9. Cortez the Killer (Neil Young cover)
10. Upon the Stone
11. Grain of Soul
12. Coming Home (Encore)

Location: Gebr. de Nobel, Leiden, Netherlands

Date: October 6th, 2016

(8/10) Jenna, Acid, Nick and Jimi - they are Honeymoon Disease and they have released a few days ago their debut. "The Trascendence" is full of pretty good classic rock songs - eleven in total. 

Honeymoon Disease fits perfect in the current classic rock boom that slops over from Sweden since acouple of years. The four-base calls, like many other bands, Gothenburg their hometown and from there they started to bring their hardrock into the world.

The first single was released in 2014 and was called "Fast Love". The fast track has a cool groove and is a driving hardrocker. This song brought the band some first attention.

This first small little 'hit' was followed by the next publication. "Bellevue Groove" corroorated they good first impression, but Honeymoon Disease had to prove that they are more than just a one/two hit wonder. The remaining question was, if they could keep the level also throughout an entire album.

"The Transcendence" shows that this is the case. Deeply rooted in the sound of the 70's, bands like Deep Purple and Led Zeppelinin delivered the blueprint for what this four-piece serves on their debut. But also the earlier Kiss have been heard by the four musicians; at least you can get this impression while listening to "Rock'n'Roll Shock".

The album is full of pounding drums and a thumping bass that creates the base for downtuned guitar to swing. The pepperoni on this musical pizza are the vocals done by Jenna. She finds the right mix of rough and edgy. Alls this together leads to a warm and organic sound that doesn't miss any hardness. 

"The Transcendence" is a good classic rock album that stands out from other releases since it has more of an own identity. Well done.

(8/10)

Tracklist:

1. Higher
2. Strgazer
3. Imperial Mind
4. Gotta Move
5. You're too late
6. Break Up
7. Bellevue Groove
8. Fast Love
9. Rock'n'Roll Shock
10. Brand New Ending
11. Keep Me Spinning

Label: Napalm Records

Genre: Classic Rock

Release Date EU: November 20st, 2015