Review | Electric Boys – Grand Explosivos

Mighty Music

Although Swedish rockers Electric Boys had a hiatus you can say that they have been around for some 35 years now, still being led by singer/guitarist Conny Bloom and bass player Andy Christell. The band is being completed by guitarist Martin Thomander and The Quill-drummer Jolle Atlagic. This line-up has been together for a while now and have found a home for the last five years or so at Danish label Target/Mighty Music.

STEADY FLOW

There has been a steady flow of albums the last ten years but somehow the band has not really broken through to a huge audience. Why not? Their cocktail of hard rock, funk rock, a sniff of soul, a sniff of metal and some sleazy rock (Bloom and Christell have been active with Hanoi Rocks) has always been entertaining and on most albums very stable. Not afraid to turn things a bit upside down in their music, you cannot say that the music of Electric Boys is predictable. Also, on ‘Grand Explosivos’ the band offers variation galore, well produced and (in most cases) easy to access music.

CONSISTENCY

Why is this band only known to the happy few? One of the reasons might be that their albums not always have real top-notch songs and lack a bit of consistency in the song writing department. ‘Grand Explosivos’ is not really different. The band as per usual mixes it up, has in general very decent rock songs where the influences of The Beatles shine through (like on opener ,,When Life Treats You Funky’’), the fun factor is there (,,Beter Safe Than Sober’’), at times they really rock (,,Domestic Blitz’’), some riffs are just outstanding (,,The Great Believer’’) but unfortunately there are also songs that are nothing more than mediocre (,,And The Band Played On’’, ,,Learjet’’, ,,Cozmic Jagger’’).

As long as Bloom and his mates don’t manage to make a record that is from top to bottom filled with explosive material there will be some sort of status quo. I think that ‘Grand Explosivos’ will do just enough to keep the band’s position and reputation intact, but not really more than that either. Still, fans of the group will appreciate this record for sure but how big is that fan base in reality?

Release date: 15 September 2023