The Brimstone Days - On A Monday Too Early To Tell (2012)

If the heady days of soulful blues soaked 60’s and 70’s rock ignite your heart and the likes of Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, and Free send your emotions and pulse rate soaring then a new and equally impactful treat is just waiting for your adoration. The Brimstone Days is a band from Malmö, Sweden, a trio who live and breathe those inspirational days whilst their creativity sows those old seeds within its own unique imagination to bloom impressive and powerful songs as within their new album On A Monday Too Early To Tell. The band and their release takes you back to those heated groove filled times whilst brewing its flavours through their modern energy and invention. It is a vibrant pleasure and an essential listen for all blues rock fans.

The Brimstone Days began with vocalist/guitarist Hakan Lanz and drummer John Malmqvist driving off boredom by forming Blue Windmills. Playing as a blues /rock duo the band soon realised something was missing so brought in bassist Elias Dellow and changed the band name to The Brimstone Days. 2009 saw the release of their debut EP Flowers and Rainbows as the trio continued to light up stages with their irresistible sounds around the Malmö -Lund region. Not long after the EP came out Dellow left the band and was replaced by Hampus Hallgard, the new line-up energising the band further with its varied musical tastes linked by the love of sixties and seventies rock. The following year brought the release of their self titled album, its arrival well received and eagerly digested. Having gigged all over Europe the past years, the band has unmistakably matured and evolved further, with On A Monday Too Early To Tell the irrepressible evidence that the band has elevated all aspects of its craft, from songwriting to sound, and that their passion is as potent as ever and always sleeve worn.

Released through Transubstans Records, the album immediately opens on a major high in I Need Soul, a song which envelops the ear with a teasing swagger and infectious declaration, its heart and enthused energy an instant contagion to unleash ones inhibitions to. It is a confident piece of rock which is unafraid to settle back at times to build a crescendo of garage sixties fuelled melodic heat; it is also a song which has one on their toes physically and emotionally to share the warm eager skies it strolls.

From such a strong and irresistible start many bands might have lost impetus such the quality of the song, but The Brimstone Days just lays layer after layer of sensational sounds and impassioned energies brought with sharp invention and fired imagination. The likes of the hungrily grooved What Do You Want light up every corner of the senses with its simple yet incendiary breath, whilst songs such as the devilish Same Old Story, the catchy Burry The Hatchet, and the growling bluesy One-Two-Two, simply grabs one by the scruff of the neck and lead into an unbridled tempered riot of melodic fires and addiction forming grooves.

The vocals of Lanz are outstanding throughout, his delivery carrying whispers of so many greats from the past within his own inspiring tones. Within the slower prowl of Helping Hand his plaintive style really stokes the emotions and on what are predominantly energised storms of sharp melodic enterprise and energies elsewhere he leaves smouldering trails behind his powerful delivery.

Bigger highlights, though the release is one colossal one, come with the thumping title track, a demon of a blues rock conjuration, and the delicious Captain Tom. The second of the pair has a unique character amongst songs which are nothing less than diverse anyway, its pulsating saunter veined with great backing vocals and an acidic guitar sound to mesmerise completely, the result one breathless listener. It is masterful, a track just exuding flames of artistry and impassioned imagination.

On A Monday Too Early To Tell is a dynamic and absorbing album which only enlivens and illuminates the day and senses. The Brimstone Days are on the verge of major recognition, it definitely starts here.

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