If you are already familiar to bands like MAGNOLIA, ABRAMIS BRAMA, even SVARTE PAN and you insist to rock with heavy 70s riffs-oriented Hard Rock with specialty the Swedish tunes and breeze, MARULK will be the brand new 'Eden' for you; directly from Gothenburg, Sweden, this grooving new school boogie trio band releases the debut album via Transubstans Records, following respectfully the holy steps of CAPTAIN BEYOND and GRAND FUNK RAILROAD in an absolute combination with fresh music elements and delightful hippie mood. By adding the English lyrics, the package becomes more tempting and 'opened' even from ears outside the Scandinavian borders. So, people, are you ready for some well-played retro Rock?

The question is rhetorical; the only thing that matters here is the nine tracks that comprise the "Marulk" album and the main characteristics in it. You see, it's quite optimistic to listen to a debutante band just scouted and the result being so fetching. From the opening "Daylight & Rain", the cheerful and groovy Hard Rock sound puts us in the appropriate clime, passing the baton to the Swedish "Följer Ett Spår" and even I do not understand a single word from the lyrics, I might say that it's been one of my favourites from the very first listening. "Hey Sister" grooves a little bit more and the AC/DC-esque elements bounce continuously (especially in the guitars' parts) till "Is This Home" brings a southern blues flavour, giving a lazy summer light air twisted inside our ears.

Nevertheless, the biggest surprise of "Marulk" comes with "Nosferatools" and its 70s heavy rock riffs flirting a lot with BLUE CHEER's sonic attitude: straightly developing music structure, nice melodic tunes and a latent bluesy tone transfer us back to the innocence's past, 30 years ago and even more. "Slumber Waltz" shows the aggressive dynamic of MARULK mixing some progressive touches in the drum tempo giving an interesting rousement, while "Potemkin" responds successfully to its name and leaves great expectations behind its pass for a next upcoming album and the total musical abilities of the band. After the album's 34 minutes, the creating nostalgia of this musical revolution becomes stronger ('starkare' in Swedish) and the general sense that the listener had is that the sum of Sweden based rock bands can be more tempting and appealing to bigger part of fans who love seventies' Heavy Rock, cause this album is the simplified evidence.

For my taste, MARULK are part of the music evolution of Swedish Retro Rock bands placing English in their songs, a fact that's absolute complimentary, since doesn't affect the sonic result and doesn't bother their music direction. I hope MARULK's second effort will be more inspiring and a really breathtaking note in our bleak musical times. The signs are quite promising and the route's been set.

"...You know I just can't wait..."
(lyrics taken from "The Alarm" track)