High Octane Rock is what these Norwegian Speed Rockers say they play. Is that right? Well, yes it is on "Cannonball Run". We usually try to capture a bit of the history of the band in our first paragraph, but I must admit that this time Google is letting me down in the case of THE GASöLINES.

Opener "Autobahn Outlaws", which is also the first single of the album, is a hard, fast and very distinguishable speed rocker. That is mainly due to the voice of Morten Nilson, who sounds like an amalgamation of Lemmy and Angry Anderson (Rose Tattoo). On "Go! Go! Go!" the band play even faster, but never without losing sight of making a song sound coherent and very strong. The problems THE GASöLINES face in the songs are all about lack of money in "Last Dollar", and the title of the following "Booze, Gambling & Hotrods" speaks for itself. The songs are all set up simple, with maximum listening pleasure as the main aim. I just keep wondering how these guys would sound live. What I do miss is some of the songs evaporate from my mind after I've heard them. They don't stick. And to stand out in this overcrowded market that is exactly what's needed.

The last song I'm going to mention separately is the closer of the album "Whiskey Blues". It's also the one that keeps turning in my head. The intro is done with an acoustic guitar, and you immediately feel like you're in a crowded bar in the Wild West where the people are still allowed to smoke. It's such a great joy to hear something that is just that much different, at least for the first minute and a half. After that it's another pure rocker. Summarising "Cannonball Run" I can only conclude that this is a good speed rocking album with a high enjoyability factor. The only thing missing is making the songs just that much more impressionable and memorable. That's the area THE GASöLINES need to work on, but for a debut they've done a good job.