Rockadrome (formerly Monster Records) are a label that specializes in reissueing old and obscure hard rock and heavy metal and they have released a pretty impressive bunch of records so far. Their latest is a reissue of a 1972 LP by Swiss band AFTER SHAVE. Kudos to the packaging, with lots of pics and extensive liner notes. Obviously a lot of love the genre has gone into this. Great job, guys!

And what about the music? Well I love old hard rock but after hearing several of those 'hidden gems' I just can't help noticing that eventually they all tend to sound alike a bit. That's the case with AFTER SHAVE too. "Skin Deep" is mostly a combination of raw boogie rock and some mellow balladry, with the trademark crummy production that will always make this kind of music an acquired taste. It's good for what it is. Not classic by any means but it has some very cool guitar bits and will probably please anyone into stuff like BUDGIE or LEAF HOUND. I know it may all read as if I'm a bit underwhelmed and that's probably a bit unfair to AFTER SHAVE, because there really is not one bad track to be found. Let's just say this is one for the completists. It's not essential or anything but at least it's good, and in this genre (which has its fair share of crap too) you certainly could do a lot worse.

- Van Hoften

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