THE QUILL: Born From Fire (HEAVY METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

If many discovered it following the recruitment of his bassist Roger Nilsson within Spiritual Beggars, The Quill had already been noticed by signing three albums of which one of them, "Voodoo Caravan", was considered as a must for the stoner.

Since then, the Swedes have pursued a (too) discreet and fragmented trajectory, even allowing five years to pass between "In Triumph" and "Full Circle", as if they had never really recovered from the successive departures of the four-cordist, which occurred in 2005, and above all of their historical singer, Magnus Ekwall, even if they have assured in 2011 the longest tour of their career. If the return of Nilsson on the occasion of "Tiger Blood" has been welcomed, the return of the vocalist should allow the group to definitively stop the erosion of its popularity.

All those who lived through the commercial explosion of the stoner scene at the dawn of the 2000s will find in this album all that was then the salt of this movement: the energetic sweat, the incandescent feeling and the allegiance to Black Sabbath through riffs cast in lead and a hoarse duck voice à la Ozzy. Old school, this eighth album brings together twelve tracks on fire propelled by vocals that is a clever mix between the smoky timbre of Osbourne ('Keep It Toghether') and the even more powerful sound of the late Chris Cornell.

If it never fails to nail these efficient and heavy compositions to the ground, as witnessed by 'Ghosthorse', very close to Black Sabbath, the guitar of the underestimated Christian Carlsson multiplies nervous attacks worthy of the taciturn Blackmore. The Deep Purple Mark III blanket the grooviest tracks ('Snake Charmer') while the rhythm shot down by the pair Nilsson / Atlagic awakens memories of the most massive Led Zeppelin ('Stone Believer').

Combining fat nuggets ('The Spirit And The Spark', 'Unchain Yourself', 'Revelation') with more stirring ones ('Skull & Bones', 'Electrical Sons'), "Born From Fire" never overflows, even when it wanders to the confines of a downy psychedelic rock, like on the powerful 'Set Free Black Crow' that stretches over eight orgiastic minutes. 'Hollow Of Your Hand' and 'Metamorphosis' in turn illustrate this atmospheric facet that suits the Swedes as well, artisans of a traditional stoner.

Strong of this irreproachable album which renews with the success of "Voodoo Caravan", The Quill comes to remind us to our good memory. There is no reason why he should not take advantage of the seventies revival to which he contributed at the beginning. - Official website

THE QUILL

BORN FROM FIRE

METALVILLE

HEAVY METAL