HONEYROLL is a five-piece Hard Rock band hailing from Oslo, Norway. They have been active since 2009 with a few lineup changes, have released two previous albums in 2013's "Worth Your Money" and 2015's "Time To Rock", and are akin in both appearance and style to acts such as MOTORHEAD, AC/DC and JACKYL. The band is billed as a subsidiary of Neverton United, a Norwegian Rock Band Conglomerate, who, in their PR statement, state that HONEYROLL "is energetic, catchy and captures the essence of rock and roll - both musically and lyrically. The albums and live shows celebrate the power of rock and roll - and are a tribute to all the rock fans around the world. This is straight forward, no bullshit, rock and roll with a groove".

From all evidence I have been presented by their third release, "Soul For Sale", this is as accurate description as you are apt to find, regarding the band's output. The music is raw and brutal, as is the lyrical content; and the band makes no pretense as to anything other than what they are. No politics, no hard sell of anything other than music...and no apologies.

"Cursed Crime" kicks off the festivities here, with an angry sounding down tempo guitar riff and a Bon Scott style vocal that is certain to make fans of the aforementioned AC/DC, particularly fans of their earlier works, sit up and take notice. The song is essentially the equivalent of a five minute beatdown, with a straightforward bottom end and heavy guitar punch courtesy of Christiansen and Koppang. There is a point at the beginning of the guitar solo that almost feels as if the drums are losing time... I'm not sure what that is all about, but they recover from it nicely for the ending of the song.

"Bar Fight Bastards" follows; and offers more of the same bombardment. "High Octane Hurricane" has a nasty sounding guitar intro, into a very similar scenario with the body of the song, as does "Black Night". The issue that I have with this particular release is all in the vocal presentation. After a few songs, it just felt monotonous, and on the track "Stand Up", the vocal really makes the song unlistenable. I understand fully what these guys are trying to present here, and I truly appreciate the effort; but boredom creeps in from time to time because of the vocal, and it ultimately hurts the album badly. The production is also not really up to par, throughout.

HONEYROLL is not reinventing the wheel here, but they aren't pretending too, either. If you are looking for something fresh, this probably isn't your stop off point; and while some may find merit in the twelve songs from this album, it ultimately fails the test for me.