Void Commander – Alien Queen
Majestic Mountain Records / Interstellar Smoke Records – 2024
Rock, Blues, Stoner, Doom, Seventies, Proto
Rated: ****
We were honored to premiere their fourth single Sweet Depression from the Alien Queen album to be released on June 7th. We’re talking about that wild and feverish Void Commander trio out of Karlskrona, Sweden. It will arrive through a duo of great labels, namely Majestic Mountain Records and Interstellar Smoke Records and sports no less than seven tracks and forty two minutes of great and classic rock. They’re celebrating their tenth year of existence and do so by trucking through as much of the roots of rock as they can possibly do. This is hardrock, diesel blues, stonerized and doom touched. This is that proto love, the seventies edge and everything classic you can think of. Opening track To The Grave starts out as gritty and as doom as they can before turning that blues corner. They do circle back to that doom once fourth track Bloodred Knight Alright rolls around. That stays in that doom circle, until it suddenly all bluesy and jazz, jams away from the dark and dances off into the distant light. And that’s where title track Alien Queen is waiting. Cause even though there is a doomy edge here, Alien Queen is allowed to head off into that proto direction. With a beautiful and soulful harmonica freak out, that curls into this wonderful little pocket to get lost in, right there in the middle of that track that could easily into a majestic jam during a live show. Which is definitely another word you can feel throughout the album, jam. And not just because the sixth track is called Jam In C. You often feel a lot of this record was born out of jam, without any edit, just re-recorded because it immediately felt good. And that’s where everything the Alien Queen record does goes, to that lovely feeling. There is no real darkness here or depression, it’s all framed by sweetness and something glowing. That ending guitar work on Jam In C, grooving on such a warm and intense ebb and flow, sliding over all your marrow and bone. The Night Took My Name ends the album in fine form, a perfect capture of one of those feelings you might have after one of those memorable nights, with vocals that will force you to surrender to the Void Commander sound. And after listening to all that, there might still be a bonus track, that might only be available on the vinyl soon to be released. And after listening to all that there are so many moments when you find it’s hard to believe that this trio does not have a Southern American city as birthplace listed in their passport. So much blues, so honest so pure. Sometimes Mississippi oriented, sometimes more Texas, mixed with so much spicy soulful rock and always unpolished, untamed, raw and jam adorned. It isn’t all blues and roots, but it is always there. And that simple fact makes Alien Queen an album that feels like already stood the test of time and will live on into legend…
And guess what… We’re honored to bring you that legend first with a FULL ALBUM PREMIERE on Thursday the 6th! That’s right, thanks to Good Boy PR, Majestic Mountain Records and Interstellar Smoke Records we will bring you the new Void Commander album Alien Queen this Thursday! So, set your alarm and get up early, cause we’ve got some diesel blues to guzzle!
(Written by JK)
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