Here we go with another mysterious band that is hard to find information on the net. I love discovering new bands (to my ears) from different countries but sometimes, it is hard to get some information in English from Metal bands from abroad. However, in our eternal pursuit for Metal greatness, we try to dig a little deeper to get the information to you. One example is the band SKOR from Sweden. After checking a number of bands with the same name, I finally found the correct one. They are releasing what seems to be their first full length album called Mess You Up and they promise a Heavy Metal rooted on AEROSMITH and NAZARETH. Therefore I expect a great singer.

We start the album with “Blood” that also gives me immediate AC/DC vibes with the guitar riff and the monotone bass. Pure Hard Rock well based on Blues and without any frills. It reminds me of If You Want Blood, You Got It  from AC/DC without the great voice of Bon Scott. We follow with “Mess You Up” that names the album. Another good Rock tune showing the extremely high pitch voice of singer Emil Gammeltoft. Despite this being generally a good thing for Hard Rock bands, it sounded a little out of tune and weird to me. This tune could be sung in a lower register and I believe it would be better. The singer reminds me also of CINDERELLA’s Tom Keifer but without the necessary roughness. Just check “I'm Your Man” and you will see what I mean. All is good with the band but the voice is too soft  and high pitch to my ears and is becoming a little annoying. “Goodbye Lockdown” is much better as it is sung in a lower (but still high) register that suits the song much better.

I heard the SKOR vocalist has a fixation on NAZARETH’s singer Dan McCafferty and this is a tall order. He tries to replicate his idol on “Sing Like Joe McCafferty” and for me, he fails miserably as he admits in the song lyrics himself. Is an ok tune but does not match much with the general album mood. Brian Johnson also comes to mind when you hear tunes like “Gimme High”. The capacity to reach high notes is there, but not the technique unfortunately. The band has also competent musicians for the sound proposed with a solid drum and bass duo in Rickard Jernberg and Rickard Jernberg and I am glad to inform you that the bass is well present in the mix as you can hear on “Carousel” despite being a weak tune. We reach “Stop” but the band does not oblige. This tune is an interesting one however, with a more friendly vocal lines and melody. With a cool riff and drum beat, the band gets a little out of their shell on this track and bends to the softer Rock with sprinkles of New Wave (God forbid). All riffs in the album and the general song structures are quite good. The band is groovy as you can hear in the funky “Keep On” that has a nice tempo change for an acoustic guitar interlude.

The best of the album so far despite the not convincing singer. We end our journey with “Shooting Star” that also has a weird (but interesting) approach. Especially in the arrangement that gave me even some psychedelic vibes. Overall the band is quite good and creative but the singer is memorable for the wrong reasons. The album cover kind of defines the singer situation in this band. I would like also to advise the presence of base guitar player Ken Sundberg that needs to learn some solos to have a better review in the future. Base guitar players are less important than the bassist nowadays unfortunately. Even Robin Crosby from RATT use to solo.