Glorious Bankrobbers, at face value are another Swedish melodic yet hard rockin band who wish they were from the west coast of the USA circa the late 70's early 80's, one main difference being that at least have the history, having been around since 83.  The story is a typical one, bunch of lads start a band, some even come back to the band.  Record some music and earn their chops playing the circuit. Eventually the band breaks up, only to come back quite a few years lates, older and wiser and come back stronger.

Which all brings us to 2023 and the release of Back On The Road another album born out of lockdown, chock full of foot-tapping retro Rawk 'n' Roll given an up to date polished production.  The component parts are all there, catchy hooks, a singer who can, drums that sound like drums and a funky bass sound.  Be it the Bubblegum Pop of "Up To You" or catchy riffs of "Turn On The Music" the 70's are never far away, call to mind bands such as THE SWEET who could rock very hard, but at the same time chuck a totally throw-away pop song at you,  Glorious Bankrobbers have a similar knack.
But that isn't the limits of their sound. For example the title track "Back On The Road" is a full-on Cowboy rock song, which swaggers along on a fantastic riff and solos and Harmonica. Hell yeah! "Running Hot" for some reason reminds me of BOSTON in a strange way (if they were every this heavy).  And last track "My America Rocks" tries very hard to be snotty and punky in a Stonesy sort of way.  But while catchy, and loving the (over) use of the singularly most important percussion instrument of the 70, the Cow Bell, it just seems to try a bit too hard.

Which oddly takes me back to the other end of the album. "I'm a Drudge" rocks! It does it in a deliciously retro fashion and is definitely NOT as the word is defined, someone who works hard at a boring or unpleasant job, because this is way too catchy to be that! "Dodge The Bullet" is everything "My America Rocks" should be.  It is snotty, it has a punky attitude which it delivers with 1000%more cool and 'tude, whilst remain light. And don't think I couldn't detect them Cow Bells hiding at the back there!

Oh! and the 70's called and they want "Criminal Boogie" back! There is way too much retro-fun there in that one track to be allowed out in these post-pandemic cost of living crisis, we are all doomed days! People will start smiling and dancing, and aren't they banned these days?  "Gold Fever"  keeps the vibe going with it's funky rock 'n' roll acid-Disco feel. Then "D.S.T." (A Difficult Situation Tunnel, nope me neither!), just has a groove and a swagger.

It is a bit of a pity, that in the eyes of this reviewer that the album starts so strongly that it just falls over at the end, which is a great shame, because this has put such a big smile on my face, the anti-climax was a touch deflating.  Now where did I put my flares and stack-heels boots?