I know better than to judge a book by its cover. Having said that, when I was assigned to review ROADHOUSE DIET's latest release, "Electric Devilry", I allowed myself a sense of dread going into it, simply because of the cover art and my own ignorance to their work. I'm not certain exactly what I expected; most likely some sort of dark imagery filled Death Metal... to say I was in for a pleasant surprise is the understatement of the century.

Hailing from Nyhammar, Sweden, ROADHOUSE DIET is a five-piece band mixing influences as diverse as ZZ TOP and DEEP PURPLE into a blend of Neo-classic and Modern Hard Rock unlike anything I have heard in years. I can also hear the influence of bands such as WHITE ZOMBIE and THE CULT in their work.

Starting out with the thirty second instrumental "Electric Devilry", the record doesn't take long to get to the heavy Gibson Firebird and Flying V riffs of "Burn That Midnight Oil". Jonas Kjellgren's menacing vocals and the driving bass and drum tracks are perfectly balanced with the screaming guitar riffs throughout the song. It is an incredible kick off to an incredible record.

Things progress quickly with "Evil's Got A Hold on Me", with its heavy keyboard sounding intro and the Rob Zombie-esque groove of "Compute the Kill". Diving further into the album, it is difficult not to realize the maturity of writing ability in tracks like "All the Lights are Out Now" and "Payin' the Devil's Dues".

My personal favorite cuts are the amazing "Hollow Shade" and "Divorced From Reality". Both songs have strong instrumental breaks that put me in mind of Jon Lord and Maestro Blackmore, with their interwoven solos from tracks like "Burn". Per Wiberg has very obviously been influenced by the late Jon Lord, and his tasteful organ work here demonstrates it very well.

The entire album hit me with the intensity of a Quentin Tarentino film. The musicianship is outstanding, the songwriting is solid throughout, and the production is as fresh as anything I have heard in a very long time. I will be hitting the net to find as much as I can find from these guys; and I will be hitting it as soon as I am done typing this review. Grab this record. You're welcome, in advance.