When the drums of war start to sound in the opening of "The Only Thing I Have", Stefan screams a sincere 'let's go' and the Swedish Heavy Rock scent is spreading for once again in the air; yep, the class of stoner/ retro rock of Sweden is here for one more time and today's members the mighty BLOWBACK. The alter twin of 2006's split with ASTEROID return with a second album in the quiver and seems to be really bombastic for the lovers of this genre. How far is Sweden from here, "800 Miles" or more? And how far is from our hearts though? I can tell you, not a fuckin' inch...

The Örebro based BLOWBACK having less granulated readings than before, leaves the swaggering sound behind and makes us obvious its fuzzy rock character, but with the aggressiveness that should have. In tracks like "The Big Black Hole" or "Crossroads", you'll find the absolute THE DEAD MAN-esque elements regarding the atmosphere creating the vocal parts, when "No Soul" holds higher the flag of the main ingredients of the quartet (in the name of The Father, The Son and The Holy SABBATH- Amen). The whilom harsh and stoned guitars give their position to glossy and shiny melodies that enlighten the whole result with cheerful colours, holding at the same time the situation's hippy heaviness, as you can listen in "Butterfly".

Nevertheless, the band doesn't seem to miss the bluesy mood; "Dead Mans Blues" show us a rhythm 'n' roll attitude without sales and sonic caricatures and if LYNYRD SKYNYRD had been formed in 2010, this would exactly have been their sound. The pompous "Away from the Planet" reminds me a lot of BLOWBACK's "Morning Wood" and give the perfect baton to the saucy "Water in My Wine" to close the album. The desperate voice of Stefan seems to become more touchy and fluent after all, reaching my entailing standards, when the BLUE CHEER-y guitars declare an unhesitating way to act and spread ungrudgingly and heavy hooks, right on the face, referring to the wild side of the 70s and that's really amazing!

I'm pretty sure that when you read above "the class of stoner / retro rock of Sweden is here for one more time", you were thinking of the sound's possibly boring similarities these bands have each other. You see, you are totally wrong; BLOWBACK make the exception and pave the road with sonic crimson rose leaves in the middle of spring '10, even if it's "800 Miles" length.

"I try to remember How I used to feel,
I'm waiting for You to take My hand,
But this might be the end of My Lifetime"

"800 Miles" is one of this year's best music surprises so far. I hope for more to follow.