With his new album Don't Shoot The Messenger, Stevie Klasson, one of Sweden's best known guitarists offers us a mixture of heavy Rock sounds, rhythmic guitar riffs and a pretty good voice. It includes many very different kinds of music. Rock, Metal, Jazz, Blues, Country, Pop...mixed together to something really special.
The opener on this album is Goin Mental, beginning with a pop sound guitar riff and when singing begins you can hear a inoffensive bass and drum mix that reminds you of any song played on local radio these days. The second song, Hand Me Down, includes a really funky lead guitar and Stevie Klasson's voice taking on a Mick Jagger quality several times. Hand Me Down is definitely a song full of attitude and shows Klasson's musical skills very well. The first few songs stand up as very good Country Rock songs but after having listened to the whole album it becomes evident that Country Rock is all we'll be going to get on this record.
As I already said, the first few songs show up as high class Country Rock including parts of other kinds of music. Songs like Do What You Want, Downbound Train or Angel In Black give us the feeling to be somewhere in Texas. Those songs feel like typical Country songs without anything too special. Driving drumbeats, strutting guitar rhythms and Stevie Klasson's swaggering voice. Especially White Line Fever, with it's sing-along chorus and a pretty high tempo, makes you imagine epicures of ho-downs and cowboys.
While fans of Stevie Klasson or simply those who are into this type of music may be satisfied with this offering, those who were looking for a new and diverse record will be disappointed. But some songs manage to achieve a very different effect. Talk Too Much, for example, sounds almost like an old LED ZEPPELIN song. It includes stammering and screaming guitars, a bluesy keyboards and a great lighter female voice in the chorus and in some parts of the verses. This song is very different and shows up with a really soulful sound. Sweetheart Angel Pure and Bedspring Symphony have a great vocal harmony and the upbeat Rock 'n' Roll guitars and the female voice gives those songs a very special sound. The main impression is still the Country vibe and some very slightly Rock 'n' Roll riffs that runs straight through the whole album.
Lucky and Don't Mess With Evil definitely change the tone. Those ones have  behind layered guitar riffs and a very melancholic, soulful sound. Altogether the album is good. It is very well mixed and a whole lot of interesting guitar riffs, the bluesy, sometimes tinkling keyboards, the dynamic, straight drums and Stevie Klasson's rough voice consider a great and strong Country Rock album. In my case I would have liked some more variation, some of the songs sound too similar. But anyhow, for those who love Stevie Klasson's music and all what he is about this album is the best for what he could have produced.