Label: Iceberg
Year: 1991
Home: Denmark
Members: Henrik Bjorn ~ vocals/bass/percussion
Tim Andre ~ guitars/percussion
Mickey Hurricane ~ drums/b. vocals
Like thick ass blues heavy rock? Think Bad Company should have a higher status in the rock pantheon cause they had more emotion than many of their peers? Do you secretly like George Thorogood? Do you think if Johnny Winter had been a rock guitarist he'd be a huge guitar god, cause he rocked the blues harder than many guitarists played rock? I once heard a musician say the death of rock came the moment blues left the rock vocabulary. Would you agree? If you say yes to any, most or all of these questions, then check out Denmark's Merzy. This second album from them is a thick ass slab of the blues with hints of just enough rock to please many listeners. At times its straight out of the Bad Company catalog (i.e. opening of "Give Me What You Got", the bridge of "Out On The Highway", the haunting ballad "Dreamer"), yet its also as bluesy as its gets with the energy of Johnny Winter (i.e. "Good Times"). The songs are blues to the core, but revved up with rock solos & polish. They never get too raw or rootsy. I wouldn't compare them to AC/DC, which is a rock band with super blues roots. I'd put them more in the category of 70's/90's ZZ Top, which was blues with rock elements, or blues for a rock audience. Think Paul Rodgers style blues, George Thorogood soaring guitar solos, maybe Gary Moore, some of Ron Wood's solo work, the energy of Canned Heat & Jeff Healey. If any of these things get you interested, then check out Merzy without doubt, as they put the guts back into rock. Formed in 1988 under the name Pure Fucking Rock, their four albums were released across Europe & Russia. They got little traction in America, though given what was happening in music in 1991 that is no surprise. This likely would have been lost under the radar, or found a small following. It deserves a small following. The only hole in the bucket is the "Elmstreet Boogie", written for the Freddy Krueger films with samples of him speaking & people screaming. Obviously a producer told them to dump Gary Moore influence & try something mainstream, or a prog band trying to do a boogie. The producer should have been fired on the spot. It doesn't sound like the rest of the album & if that's all you know by them, you'll quickly write them off. They did themselves an injustice with this track, though likely thinking it could bring them attention. It might have had they kept to doing what they did best. On the other hand, I've yet to hear any song from those movies that really was worth repeated listens. I include the Fat Boys "Are You Ready For Freddy?" in this conclusion. Only a 14 year old boy is going to rock out to Merzy's horrible line "Back in the saddle with Freddy tonight / baby, please don't go." Skip this blunder & enjoy the rest of the album
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