Shakra

Back On Track

Switzerland is not only known for its stunning scenery and tasty chocolate but also for a really interesting rock music scene. Solid part for a long time: the hard rockers of   Shakra. Back On Track   is their eighth album already and will be out on February 25th, 2011 through AFM Records.


For many years Mark Fox was   Shakra´s   man at the mic - he left the band, John Prakesh came and made his debut on this CD. So I was double curious: about the songs and the voice.


First track: B True B You   the guys show us the ropes. Straight heavy rock - Thom Blunier and Thomas Muster let their guitars rock, bassist Dominik Pfister and drummer Roger Tanner mercilessly pushing the rhythm. Great solos, brilliant riffs, a lot of power, the amps blast out a perfectly mixed sound and there are melodies and refrains that get stuck in your head. Altogether there are nine songs which can be called hot stuff.


But they also show us their sensitive and soulful side with slower tracks like e.g.   When I See You   and   Lonesomeness. Acoustic guitars are allowed here, played with a slight touch of "wild west" and romanticism - all this played not too slow, there's still more than enough fever in the fingers. A third track   Yesterday´s Gone   is another song played in slow pace but it's also a heavy one.


The above-par performance of the musicians combined with John Prakesh's unbeatable voice - it's a league of its own! I like his throaty voice. Especially because he's able to growl and to purr - means: quite varied and used to match the songs. Shakra   proved to have the right touch by choosing this singer. Hats off to the new man on the mic and his really impressive CD debut.


I recommend these songs:

Stronger Than Ever   –   for me, this is the best song of the album. A slightly different structure,  an instantly entering rhythm, a long and very good guitar solo, an unexpected change of tempo - this track really does it.

Lonesomeness   –   something for the heart, slow, soulful. John's voice gave me the creeps. I was really impressed by the two voices and anthem at the end of this song. A radio-compliant track.

MMTWGR   –   this jumble of letters means:   Money Makes The World Go Round.  A killer in every way, rocks like fuck, totally awesome use of guitars.

Back On Track   –   the title track, an uptempo song, a refrain with polyphonic parts, great to sing along loudly. The guitar parts are really well done and I simply love the drummers' commitment to this song.


However, there's also some criticism. A few songs resemble each other the way they're done. Ok, perhaps it's a default composition formula - but that's why   Stronger Than Ever   is different. More tracks with a different kind of build up would've been great. Another thing that would've been nice: a few less repeats of the refrain and more, let's say one till four, guitar solos.


All in all a good hard rock album, and this is my rating:
 

Rating:

5 ouf of 7 Ankhs

Marion Ney / Sarkophag Rocks
25.02.2011


Translation by Susanne Blum
 

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