The Quill
"Horray! It's A Death Trip"
(SPV)
Connoisseurs of the scene have long compared The Quill with leading lights of rock history, with those bands who have always relied on "LET IT ROCK," that most important of formulas away from all trends and fashions. Like the fantastic material on their prior albums, the latest offering by the Swedish act is all about rock music. In fact, it's about timeless rock music. Naturally, all sorts of analogies spring to mind when listening to the numbers by this lively act, some of them dating back to Mountain, Led Zepplin or Black Sabbath, others evoking more recent outfits like Soundgarden, Kyuss, Monster Magnet or Queens Of The Stone Age. Yet The Quill have their very own means of stylistic expression, they deliver smoke laden guitar assaults and dripping wet drum attacks while directing their greatest strength, vocalist Magnus Ekvall, the acoustic and visual epicentre of the band, directly into the limelight.
It's Ekvall who lends soul to driving tracks like "Spinning Around" and "Too Close To The Sun," "Hand Full Of Flies," with its far eastern touch or the sweat soaked "American Powder." There's something unmistakably unique to his vocal chords, a certain something that is impossible to explain. Together, with guitarist Christian Carlsson, Ekvall is The Quill's driving force, Carlsson being the musical motor behind the band. He composes the majority of the material, and his powerful guitar carries the songs just as much as Ekvall's vocals. Bassist Roger Nilsson is also a member of Spiritual Beggars and could be seen appearing with Arch Enemy during their American tour.
"The new tracks are a little heavier on the whole and more song oriented, at the same time, they're more versatile from a stylistic point of view," Carlsson comments on the current album. "The scope ranges from extremely heavy to soft and sensitive." "Hooray! It's A Death Trip" was produced by Daniel Bergstrand, well known for his collaborations with In Flames, Meshugga or Strapping Young Lad.
Their SPV debut was their 2002 release, "Voodoo Caravan," followed by their latest feat, "Horray! It's A Death Trip." What more can you say? Hooray!
