WILD SIDE - review added 12th May 2010
Album Review: Speed Devil (2010)
For fans of: Hard Rock... and Mötley Crüe
Norwegian band Wild Side - these days Joachim Berntsen on vocals, Tom Grana and Jon Aarseth on guitars, Stian Stensrud on bass, and Ronni Arntzen on drums - started out in 2005, mostly playing covers.
By early 2007 a two track demo was recorded. Not long after - and following some traumatic line-up changes - the band enter Ronni Le Tekro's studio to record their debut. It wasn't released until October of the following year, and even then only in Scandinavia.
Speed Devil is the band's 2nd album, and the first that's really heading out into the big scary world. The album was recorded at Klyve Lydstudio in Skien, Norway, and produced by the band themselves. Mixing was done by King Diamond guitarist Andy LaRoque at his Sonic Train Studios in Sweden.
The sound is, well, a well-conceived take on Mötley Crüe. Joachim's voice is amazingly similar to that of Vince Neil. His tone is the same, so are his vocal inflections and style of attack. I'd have money on those covers the band used to do being Mötley Crüe orientated. The music itself takes pointers from the L.A. quartet, but also from far and wide. The overall effect is sleazy, heavy, hard rocking, and firmly embedded in the landscape of the 1980s. Take all the hard hitters from back then - Whitesnake, Skid Row, Ratt and so on - and Wild Side probably do something on Speed Devil that sounds like them.
The album as a whole is pretty decent, if a tad muggy on the production front. Saying that, the sound is certainly characterful. Best individual moments? The grinding 'Need To Deliver', the rampant 'Wild One', the rock-steady 'Eagle', the badass 'Devil In Disguise', and the strangely contagious title track lead the pack.
I like Wild Side's Speed Devil. It isn't the best thing I've heard this year, but I like its lack of bullsh*t and its big heart. Good stuff.
Check out... This band at an after-show party. Do the Mötley Crüe comparisons continue?
Track List:
01. Paranoia Circus
02. Live Forever
03. Mine Tonight
04. Play With Me
05. Need To Deliver
06. Wild One
07. Eagle
08. Won’t Let U Go
09. Devil In Disguise
10. Always Be Me
11. Love For You
12. Speed Devil
Label: Escape Music
Artist's website(s): Wild Side , MySpace
