Hard rock has become “hot”. Among the punk, skater and emo youth it has become fashionable to wear shirts of POISON, QUIET RIOT, BRITNY FOX and other bands they probably never even heard. Recently lots of magazines have featured articles about a so-called “revival of Poodle Rock”, even some of the corporate music mags who never cared when this stuff was actually around. Among the recent sightings of mainstream pop artists and celebrities wearing rock shirts were David Beckham in an EXODUS shirt and Missy Elliott sporting a Motörhead tee. And of course there’s the UK’s latest hype THE DARKNESS, who sure have some cool riffs, but their singer’s over-the-top screeching (not to mention his striped body suit) seems to indicate that we’re supposed to take this all with a grain of salt. Rock has become the new “camp”. One would almost forget that there are still bands who take their hard rock seriously.

THE QUILL is such a band. They hail from Sweden (the land where everybody seems to play in a cool rock band) and “Hooray! It’s a Deathtrip” is their fourth album. For people who do know their hard rock their sound is easily described; THE QUILL are the perfect combination of SOUNDGARDEN and BADLANDS. And singer Magnus Ekwall is the perfect combination of Chris Cornell and Ray Gillen. For people who have a closetfull of rock shirts but don’t know what an actual Hard Rock band sounds like; think mostly slow to mid tempo groovy rhythms, very heavy yet melodic songs based around powerful riffs, and on top of that Magnus Ekwall’s high-pitched-yet-masculine voice. No tongue-in-cheek humor here, THE QUILL doesn’t need that since they actually know how to write a good song. If you can’t get past the first track (“Spinning Around”- very strong opener) don’t bother with the rest and lose the shirts. This is how good hard rock is supposed to sound. And for people who are still grieving over SOUNDGARDEN and/or BADLANDS splitting up; you never had it so good. “Hooray! It’s a Deathtrip” (nice title!) is a great record.

- Van Hoften

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/thequillofficial

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