Chillihounds – Shake your skull

“Shake your skull” is the third album from Swedish rock band Chillihounds.  The album is darker and heavier than their earlier albums – as lead singer and rythm guitarist Gabriel Aadland says “Even though we’re very pleased with our previous albums, we knew we wanted to do something different this time.  Less blue boogie and more black blues if you will”

The first thing to strike me on listening to this album was the vocals – Gabriel Aadland has a voice that is very reminiscent of Ian Astbury, from The Cult, and that can only be a good thing.

The songs are all short, with only one venturing over four and a half minutes, and as a result they all pack a good punch and don’t fall into the trap of being dragged out for the benefit of including  for instance a pointless guitar solo – these tracks keep the meat of the song and trim off any unneeded fat.

Brief comments on a few tracks…

“No vacation” gets the album off to a great start.  It’s got a real flavour of The Cult with it’s guitar sound and the Ian Astbury style vocals.

“Mark of Cain” is a short track – around a minute and a half and is a Blues track.  With just the drums, Harmonica and vocals it’s definitely got a real blues sound and works very well.

“Heartbeater” made me think of the White Stripes with it’s bass and drum beat during that first opening section, which is also repeated later in the song – I’m sure other people will also see the similarity.

If you’re a fan of The Cult or Heacy rock with a blues influence then this album is definitely worth a listen.

Rating 8.5/10

Track listing:

1. No vacation
2. Taking off
3. Back in the game
4. Evil mind blues
5. Cain
6. Mark of Cain
7. Heartbeater
8. Love pays no rent
9. 1979
10. Control