Supragod - Army in White EP (Review by Daily Dischord)
JR Records
4/5
The Army in White Storm out of Stockholm With Stunning EP
Every city has at least a couple of bands like Supragod; everyone who sees a show adores them, instantly becoming a fan, yet interest from labels is few and far between.
Most of these bands get tired, frustrated, and eventually die off. They know they're good. In fact they know they're better than many of bands making a decent living in whatever musical niche they occupy. And you know it too, dammit! But for whatever reason, nobody makes a move on them.
Supragod have every right to be frustrated and pissed off. It has been a long time; they first turned up in the UK press getting a KKKKK live review in Kerrang back in '03. Ooo-la-la, indeed.
But despite garnering small pockets of fans up and down the UK thanks to playing gigs continuously, and a strong following in Stockholm city where they actually reside, the fact that EMI aren't sending dumper-trucks full of money to their mansions in Djursholm while the lads lie waiting for Prince to finish mastering their latest triple-disc album remains a bloody mystery to their fans.
Shame on you, EMI. Shame on you.
So what do you do? If you're Supragod, you set up your own studio and record the damn thing yourself. Well... you record 6 songs anyway. Over the period of a year. And a bit.
And so we have 'Army in White'. The shimmering light in a cess-pool of shite. There's two reworked songs – 'You Can't Bomb This!' from the titular EP, 'Party of the Year' from their 'From the Trenches' split with Canadian rockers the Red Light Rippers – along with a cover and 3 new songs.
However I've got a problem writing this review. I only ever review hard rock and punk bands, and thanks to my knowledge of this wonderful, if at times monotonous genre, I usually find it easy to pigeonhole new recordings. But with this record, Supragod have created a sound and style that can only be called their own.
Sure, it's a sound that lies somewhere between 80's hard rock and the more anthemic Backyard Babies songs. And it isn't as if they try and hide their influences; there's a cover of Warrior Soul's 'Punk and Belligerent' (it even has Kory Clarke on vocals!). But it sounds new. And it sounds wonderful; the riff-tastic 'Last Parade of Clowns' gets stuck in your head like a high-velocity metal pole*, 'You Can't Bomb This' knocks you over with its energy, and the backing vocals in 'Welcome to our Tragedy' are made for singing along to while cruising on the highway.
But hey! It's on their web site, available for download for free (and/or a donation), so have a look for yourself. And they'll be dragging their asses to UK stages in the coming months.
*although metal poles can at least be surgically removed.
Ants Murdoch (Daily Dischord »)
Supragod - Army In White (Review by Glitzine)
The Gods of thunder must have been watching me with their electric eyes. They must have seen that, with the ink still wet on Olof Mellberg's pre-contract agreement, there was about to be a definite Swedish deficiency in my life. Why else would the new six track EP from SUPRAGOD creepy crawl into my leopard skinned 'n' safety pinned inbox like ass-kicking manna from heaven?
"This EP is dedicated and belongs to our friends in Stockholm city. Our home town is being raped by a gang of cultural retards but thanks to a doggedly fighting few - by us referred to as the army in white - there is still rock and roll in Stockholm." This rallying call shows a pissed off yet determined band who, after halting all live shows in order to concentrate on recording, decide to give all the songs away for free! Raised middle digit attitude, shit-kicking tunes and looking like a band too - you just know you're gonna love this!!!
Title track 'Army In White' is, given the problems in "Stockholm shit city", as moody and brooding as can be expected. The low, gruff as a gravel pit vocals almost veer into Pete Steele territory at one point and the song positively drips attitude. 'You Can't Bomb This' was originally recorded by the band with legendary producer Tomas Skogsberg (Backyard Babies; The Hellacopters; Entombed; Super$hit666) and released in 2005 but, unhappy with the finished product, Supragod have resurrected the song and it now fizzes like a mouthful of pop rocks! 'Last Parade of Clowns' powers down the same road and this two song combination grabs hold of the listener like a Mexican wrestler! Why hasn't anyone ever thought of recording a wrecking ball-like cover version of Warrior Soul's 'Punk and Belligerent' from their 1992 album 'Salutations From The Ghetto Nation'??? And why hasn't anyone ever thought of getting space age playboy Kory Clarke to provide guest lead vocals for such a cover??? Supragod have. Kory Clarke sounds like he hasn't cleared his throat for about a month - and sounds fuckin' awesome for it. This cover version is, quite simply, massive. 'Party of the Year' was written as Supragod's own getting ready to go out battle cry and, sounding like a street fight between Turbonegro and vintage Hybrid Children, is more infectious than a zombie bite. The EP comes full circle with closer 'Welcome (To Our Tragedy)', a moody yet more straightahead tune with a huge hook.
The EP is available to download for free at www.supragod.com. All six songs are on the band's MySpace profile. Add them to your page - spread the word. The band once considered the UK as something of a second home to them - with kickass recordings in the can, here's hoping that we get to see them live in the not too distant future...
by Gaz E. (Glitzine »)
Supragod - Army in white (Review by Beatburguer)
Es bien cierto que –por lo menos de momento- los suecos Supragod no pasarán a la historia del rocknroll por este, su EP de debut, “Army in white”. Lo que sí puede ser cierto es que la banda comandada por Rille –guitarrista de Warrior Soul- te hará pasar un entretenido rato en los poco más 20 minutos que componen este trabajo.
Autoproducido y con la posibilidad de bajártelo gratis en su web www.supragod.com, el cuarteto de Estocolmo suena a rock de raíces netamente metálicas, a whisky y cerveza, un cruce entre el hard rock de los 80 y bandas más actuales como (por ejemplo) Backyard Babies, aparentemente con poco fondo más que el “party all the time”. Y esta última afirmación es posiblemente cierta, pero temas como “Welcome (to our tragedy)”, “You can’t bomb this” o la versión –con Kory Clarke y su voz más carajillera que nunca como invitados de lujo- del “Punk and belligerant” de los Warrior Soul, hacen de este EP una agradable escucha, no apta para espíritus vanguardistas o especialmente poperos.
Andrés R. 29-02-2008 (Beatburguer »)
