Haxan
White Noise – Self released
In a time when the world has gone south it’s good to know that some things can still be relied upon. Rock music may have morphed, warped and blended over the decades but right at the centre of things there’s still a good riff and a big fat hook. White Noise is like rock music concentrate. It doesn’t pretend to be anything other than undiluted guitar driven fun. It’d be easy to glibly write off the songs as written to a format. If you did that though then you’ve kinda missed the point. You see this is rock and roll in its most pure form. It may well sound familiar but every song on this mighty album is as fresh as a fist pumping daisy. So often bands write one or two killer tracks then don’t deliver with the rest. That’s not the Haxan way though, this is a stunning record, consistent from first note to last. There are some lovely variations of pace too and it has the sort of harmonies you’d thought acts had forgotten how to do properly. At the heart of things are the massive rhythms and sublime guitar work that make the songs truly memorable. Music doesn’t have to be slide rule rocket science. Haxan understand this and as a result have delivered one of the best rock albums to come out of the UK in a very long time.
Review by Gary Trueman