Prosaic Paradise

In my proven interest of promoting the Swedish art rock music scene (see Beardfish) (no, really see them, they are touring the US right now!!!) I have found for you another gem of awesome Swedish retro-prog-classic rock: Black Bonzo. Please don’t let all those adjectives turn you off! I am talking about a band that has broad rock appeal.

I want to call them the best new classic rock band around, but I’m not sure how many other new classic rock bands there are? I keep reading that they are much like Uriah Heep, but I’ve never listened to any Heep. Hang on – yup, I’ve just checked out three videos and they sure do. Clearly I have been missing something.

The Hammond organ is prominent on both of their albums. A good thing, since heavy rock keyboards make me happy. The drumming is more than beat, it’s artistry, it’s lyrical, and in contributes to the story the music is telling. I also quite like the lead singer’s voice – a crowd pleasing tenor, clear and strong.

They have two albums out right now, neither of which I could say I prefer since I very much enjoy both. I’d say that Lady of the Light is more the “fun” album and Sound of the Apocalypse is more the “serious” album. The music is like opening a time capsule thanks to vintage instrumentation, but that doesn’t mean the songs don’t sound fresh.

They just wrapped recording on a third album and sadly are only doing live dates in Sweden. I leave you with their creepy video for “Lady of the Light”. This song really gets me going in the morning, thank you very much rock shuffle!

You can sample their music at last.fm or pandora immediately, or just go straight to amazon and purchase it, if you are sold. April, if you are reading this, buy these albums for your dad for father’s day.

Tags: Music

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