Review – Junkyard Drive – Look At Me Now

Mighty Music ( April 12^th 2024 )

Reviewer:  Stephen Brophy

When you have a singer that is equally at home smashing out a powerhouse, rip-roaring rocker as he is sitting alone behind a piano and singing a beautiful ballad and then you add in a bunch of really top notch musicians it’s not always a recipe that works out, but with Junkyard Drive they are not only a terrific band but their album releases are getting better and better as they progress. The Danish Rockers are back with a terrific new album ‘Look At Me Now‘ and we should all take notice and have a look and listen.

Having loved 2022’s ‘Electric Love‘ album and being blown away by the guys when I caught them live last year at Hamburg’s Indoor Summer Festival, this new album was something I was eagerly waiting to hear. No surprise in the fact that this one is again a mostly very high energy affair, as that is just what they do, if you love fast, fist pumping, Rock n’ Roll music, this is definitely a band you should be listening to, the vocals for me are stunning, the screaming guitars are right on the money in every song and the odd time that the band decide to change pace and play something a little more mellow or slow they absolutely nail that too. There are not too many bands out there now that have the ability to intersect the out and out rockers with the more laid back, Junkyard Drive excel at it.

There are numerous highlights on this album. It is top class across the board, but to pick a few that really stand out let’s try. The balladlike ‘Saw You Hanging There’ weaves a story beautifully before moving into a heavier phase both vocally and musically, but still manages to hold the integrity of the story, while adding power from the band behind it, great work. ‘Tearaway’ is balls out rocker with an infectious Riff running right down the middle of it, the band are going from strength to strength and this one is going to be a monster of a track live. Love the guitar work and some great drumming on this one, each song seems to have it’s own identity on the album but at the same time noting is out of place, ‘Tearaway’ sits nicely between ‘Shoot From The Hip’ and ‘Black Wolf’ which has a very different feel and stands strong on it’s own. The penultimate track on the album is ‘Pipe Down’ that has managed to just grab me again and again, another high octane rocker with another great riff and addictive bass runs, the band as a whole are so tight from beginning to end on this album, it’s a joy to listen to.

Closing an album with a slower track definitely doesn’t always work, and when it’s not just a slow track but much different to everything else on the album I guess you could call it a risk. For me ‘Afterglow’ is perfect for this one, beautiful slightly haunting acoustic guitar to lead us into a song with on top of the expected excellent vocal from Kris, there are wonderful backing vocals here too. A beautiful track that doesn’t loose the energy of the album, simply adds to how good it is.

This band is just, for me, the perfect blend of energy and sound and ‘Look At Me Now‘ I can only imagine wasn’t the easiest of albums to write, musically it is of course a lot of the high energy powerful in every department, but lyrically there is evidence all over of a very personal nature and visiting themes that were perhaps uncomfortable, but it’s definitely been worth it. As we all know it takes a lot more than just talent for a band to break or make move towards playing bigger venues, but fingers crossed the timing is right and planet rotates in a welcome way for them, Junkyard Drive deserve to reach higher levels and be heard by a lot of people. Can’t wait to hear more of these tracks live and congratulations to Kris, Oliver, Kristoffer, Claus and Sjus on a really terrific piece of work, undoubtedly one of my albums of 2024, if not the top one.

Tracklist:

Somewhere To Hide

Shoot From The Hip

Tearaway

Black Wolf

Beauty Fool

Blood Red Sky

Saw You Hanging There

The Tide Is High

Pipe Down

Afterglow