Review by JD on August 10, 2009.

Sweden is the home of some of the most intense, entrails-eating, decapitating inducing Death Metal around today yet there is a band comes out of the small nordic country and shows another musical side of themselves.

Innocent Rosie is a band that I instantly found that I could explain as taking the DNA properties of Skid Row, G’N’R, Motley Crue and any other sleaze peddling band from the 80's heyday as well, mix it all in a test tube and wait nine months for it to burst forth. The bastard child of all of this is a remarkable four piece straight ahead rock and roll tsunami that is called Innocent Rosie.

No Death Metal on this album, just down and dirty blues based adrenalin fuelled hard edged Rock and Roll here. This is not a band that just regurgitated this style just for the sake of it or to make some quick money on the new sleaze bandwagon... no damned way!! It is clear that the band lovingly crafts every note and beat to be a part of themselves.

IR clearly does their music straight from the heart, never once copying anything yet they have that familiar vibe as well. This is a accomplishment that is now so very rare in music in general. These guys are so good, I venture to say that this is exactly how the mighty yet now defunct Guns And Roses should have ended up like, rather than imploding and making a mockery out of themselves (one listen to "Chinese Democracy", you’ll know why I say that) and the fans that have kept them alive in their hearts.

Innocent Rosie filles that void well, and shows that down and dirty rock still has a place in the world today... Thank God!!

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 8.5
Production: 9
Originality: 8.5
Overall: 9

Rating: 8.8 out of 10

Review by Carl on January 8, 2024.

My first run in with these ruffians was their "Pain Amplifier" full length, a high-octane blast of death and black metal that attacked first and asked questions later. It was a strong effort for sure, combining early Impaled Nazarene vibes with aggressive death metal in the vein of the early works of Carcass and Deicide, it was a blast for sure. When I read about a follow up mini album being in the works, containing a more refined version of their style, I considered it a kind of bummer to hear. I took quite a while to get to it, and I'm not going to bullshit you about it, I liked their previous work better.

But don't misunderstand me please, this is not bad in any way. It's just as I read about it, being more refined in style and execution. There's quite a bit more of guitar noodling involved, slightly reminding me of early Amorphis here and there, there's some touches of keyboard ambience present in places, and some of the riffs have become more open, almost melodic even, with the names of acts such as Unanimated and even mid 90's Death crossing my mind as well. It's all executed well above average, and the compositions themselves are well thought out, making good use of variation between slow and fast sections, as well as combining more melodically inclined parts with the harsher ones. It must be noted that the few times that Mythos does fly off the handle, they still kill it, but the raging insanity that was so present on their previous release, has definitely gone the way of the dinosaurs, disappearing forever, and I can't help but really mourn its passing.

And although I lament the band's parting with their former brutality and demented power, I still have enough of a musical ear to establish that this isn't a bad effort. As mentioned above, they've got their shit together pretty well, both in execution and in compositions, and the combination of kinda melodic death metal and black metal works very well. Even the production is pretty spot-on, cleaner than before but still exuding the necessary power to make it all come popping out convincingly, making for a neat package of above decent death metal. It might not be my cup of tea entirely, but I can get behind it, which I can't really say that about the vocals, unfortunately. Vocalist Mikko has traded in his former demonic growl for a forced sounding gruff death grunt, but does not manage to really pull it off. It's a tad of an ill fit with what's on offer, being just too blunt for the music that sounds more refined and subtler than before, making for an odd combination throughout.

So yeah, this is a difficult one for me. Musically, this is no bad effort at all, but too musical for me, especially when compared to what came before. Combine this with the rough vocal approach that is just too gruff for the style, and I'm left with a pretty iffy package. But then again, if the man would have had a voice as smooth as butter, I'd still be missing their old insanity all the same.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review by Carl on January 8, 2024.

My first run in with these ruffians was their "Pain Amplifier" full length, a high-octane blast of death and black metal that attacked first and asked questions later. It was a strong effort for sure, combining early Impaled Nazarene vibes with aggressive death metal in the vein of the early works of Carcass and Deicide, it was a blast for sure. When I read about a follow up mini album being in the works, containing a more refined version of their style, I considered it a kind of bummer to hear. I took quite a while to get to it, and I'm not going to bullshit you about it, I liked their previous work better.

But don't misunderstand me please, this is not bad in any way. It's just as I read about it, being more refined in style and execution. There's quite a bit more of guitar noodling involved, slightly reminding me of early Amorphis here and there, there's some touches of keyboard ambience present in places, and some of the riffs have become more open, almost melodic even, with the names of acts such as Unanimated and even mid 90's Death crossing my mind as well. It's all executed well above average, and the compositions themselves are well thought out, making good use of variation between slow and fast sections, as well as combining more melodically inclined parts with the harsher ones. It must be noted that the few times that Mythos does fly off the handle, they still kill it, but the raging insanity that was so present on their previous release, has definitely gone the way of the dinosaurs, disappearing forever, and I can't help but really mourn its passing.

And although I lament the band's parting with their former brutality and demented power, I still have enough of a musical ear to establish that this isn't a bad effort. As mentioned above, they've got their shit together pretty well, both in execution and in compositions, and the combination of kinda melodic death metal and black metal works very well. Even the production is pretty spot-on, cleaner than before but still exuding the necessary power to make it all come popping out convincingly, making for a neat package of above decent death metal. It might not be my cup of tea entirely, but I can get behind it, which I can't really say that about the vocals, unfortunately. Vocalist Mikko has traded in his former demonic growl for a forced sounding gruff death grunt, but does not manage to really pull it off. It's a tad of an ill fit with what's on offer, being just too blunt for the music that sounds more refined and subtler than before, making for an odd combination throughout.

So yeah, this is a difficult one for me. Musically, this is no bad effort at all, but too musical for me, especially when compared to what came before. Combine this with the rough vocal approach that is just too gruff for the style, and I'm left with a pretty iffy package. But then again, if the man would have had a voice as smooth as butter, I'd still be missing their old insanity all the same.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review by Carl on January 8, 2024.

My first run in with these ruffians was their "Pain Amplifier" full length, a high-octane blast of death and black metal that attacked first and asked questions later. It was a strong effort for sure, combining early Impaled Nazarene vibes with aggressive death metal in the vein of the early works of Carcass and Deicide, it was a blast for sure. When I read about a follow up mini album being in the works, containing a more refined version of their style, I considered it a kind of bummer to hear. I took quite a while to get to it, and I'm not going to bullshit you about it, I liked their previous work better.

But don't misunderstand me please, this is not bad in any way. It's just as I read about it, being more refined in style and execution. There's quite a bit more of guitar noodling involved, slightly reminding me of early Amorphis here and there, there's some touches of keyboard ambience present in places, and some of the riffs have become more open, almost melodic even, with the names of acts such as Unanimated and even mid 90's Death crossing my mind as well. It's all executed well above average, and the compositions themselves are well thought out, making good use of variation between slow and fast sections, as well as combining more melodically inclined parts with the harsher ones. It must be noted that the few times that Mythos does fly off the handle, they still kill it, but the raging insanity that was so present on their previous release, has definitely gone the way of the dinosaurs, disappearing forever, and I can't help but really mourn its passing.

And although I lament the band's parting with their former brutality and demented power, I still have enough of a musical ear to establish that this isn't a bad effort. As mentioned above, they've got their shit together pretty well, both in execution and in compositions, and the combination of kinda melodic death metal and black metal works very well. Even the production is pretty spot-on, cleaner than before but still exuding the necessary power to make it all come popping out convincingly, making for a neat package of above decent death metal. It might not be my cup of tea entirely, but I can get behind it, which I can't really say that about the vocals, unfortunately. Vocalist Mikko has traded in his former demonic growl for a forced sounding gruff death grunt, but does not manage to really pull it off. It's a tad of an ill fit with what's on offer, being just too blunt for the music that sounds more refined and subtler than before, making for an odd combination throughout.

So yeah, this is a difficult one for me. Musically, this is no bad effort at all, but too musical for me, especially when compared to what came before. Combine this with the rough vocal approach that is just too gruff for the style, and I'm left with a pretty iffy package. But then again, if the man would have had a voice as smooth as butter, I'd still be missing their old insanity all the same.

Rating: 7 out of 10