BURNER
BÜRNER “Hittin’ The Target”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Within five seconds or less, you’ll know that BÜRNER’s favorite band is MOTÖRHEAD. And in second place is probably AC/DC. Well, it’s not like these hard rockin’ Swedes makes any secret of their influences. And now that the mighty ‘HEAD is history, BÜRNER fills a necessary gap.
This is what you call biker metal. A song title like “Baptized In Gasoline” gives it all away. “Warrior” is almost “Iron Fist” and fast screamers like “Haulin’ Ass” and “Burnerator” hit with the power of MOTÖRHEAD at their rowdiest. One notable difference is the nasal vocal from Bjorn Ohlson...this guy doesn’t really have the grit of Lemmy or Angry Anderson or Brian Johnson. It doesn’t hurt the music that much, but he needs more whiskey and cigarettes if he wants his voice to match the roughness of the music.
The band also try their hand at slower tempos...”Soulmate Killer” and “Bloodstorm” have more of a bluesy grind to them, a bit like ROSE TATTOO. The songs are all around three minutes long so they don’t have a lot of fat on them. They definitely do what they need to in the time allotted. The guitar solos are short and sweet...I wouldn’t have minded a bit more jamming myself.
There is definitely a need for uncomplicated bands like BÜRNER . Try to look past the rather dreadful cover and pick up “Hittin’ The Target” if you miss the likes of MOTÖRHEAD, NASHVILLE PUSSY and classic AC/DC.