Matadors

Flame the Whisper

Devil Doll Records 2007

Sweden seems to be such a hot spot for modern punk rock these days with the Hellacopters, Gluecifer, and so on.  You can add Matadors to that growing list.  These Swedes take a Southern US flavor add add it to their potent blend pf post punk rock.  When I listen to this album I imagine basically a mutation of Turbonegro if they had been raised in Texas and added those sorts of influences to their brand of punk (heavy on the) rock.  I feel like it is such a party album of sorts as it is like a live environment.  I can't help be full of energy and fun when I am listening to this album.  Those characteristic "woo-hoo's" (New Wave Coke and The Fresh) are infectious and I feel like I have to sing along every time the rear their awkward face.  It's sort of funny/ironic to me that these guys have perfectly captured that southern rock feel in their music while they are almost as far removed from those roots as you can be as they are straight out of the same streets that spawned the likes of Entombed, Grave and Dismember in Stockholm, Sweden.  Just feel the power of that strumming and humming rock anthem Ahead of My Time.  On Mere A Cipher singer Andreas says he's gonna show us the way to his heart but I know he's found his way into all of our hearts with memorable and feverish rock songs bursting with feverish energy and a gritty realism made for a sweaty barroom brawl.  One thing that Matadors music is infused with is a massive amount of "Attitude."  They bring the goods and know it!  I try not to "judge anyone from the volume of their band" but that certainly seems to be the right way to go with this rockin' great time that The Matadors provide on Flame the Whisper.