The Hellacopters: Grande Rock Revisited (2024, Nuclear Blast Records)

The Hellacopters are one of those bands that no matter how many years pass, they don’t seem to age. Part of his young and crazy spirit must be rooted in that of his undisputed leader and alma mater Anders Niklas Nicke Andersson, Nick Royale for many others, one of the most prolific minds in the history of music who has not only delighted us with his thuggish and unbridled hard rock in The Hellacopters or Imperial State Electric but has also participated in the birth and creation of Swedish death metal with Entombed and occasionally with Death Breath.

Although their last studio album Eyes Of Oblivion did not seem to convince everyone, I still remember the criticism that some gave me when I published their review praising the return of these five enormous musicians, I must categorically affirm that The Hellacopters is a one of the best things that could have happened to music and it is something that I defend tooth and nail. His return is not something that should be celebrated but something that as music lovers we should be grateful for every day of our lives, whether to publish a new album or to simply use the re-recording of an already great work as a pretext to pick up their instruments and embark on a world tour.

There will be few people at this point who have not heard Grande Royale if they did not know The Hellacopters beforehand, but for all those who have missed one of the best garage rock bands over the years, here we have today the interesting Grande Rock Revisited. I won’t discover anything new if I refer to the album’s compositions separately since everything that had to be said about this album will be said in a thousand and one different ways. In that aspect we could judge little about the album except the quality of its compositions that continue to maintain that freshness of yesteryear without losing an iota of interest.

As for the album itself, speaking of Grande Rock Revisited, it is a real pleasure to be able to enjoy this new master with which they have given a good facelift to an already exceptional album. With the new production closest to that of the albums that The Hellacopters has published since the seminal High Visibility and since its successor, By The Grace Of God, it is a true delight to enjoy authentic anthems for several generations such as Welcome To Hell, The Devil Stole The Beat From The Lord or Action De Grâce, especially my favorite from the album: Renvoyer. Unfortunately, they miss that they have re-recorded the album itself with the current lineup, something that probably would have caught my attention even more.

Maybe some of the magic of the original album is lost with the clean and polished sound that has been given to the album itself, but it gains a lot with several listens. We also have Grande Rock twice with the inclusion of the original album on the second side, for the most nostalgic. Comparisons are usually hateful but on this occasion we came out twice as winners, which in itself is something to celebrate beyond the return of one of the biggest bands of the genre, The Hellacopters. Thank you for always being there and thank you Nicke Royale for making this world a much nicer place.

1. Action De Grâce
2. Alright Already Now
3. Move Right Out Of Here
4. Welcome To Hell
5. The Electric Index Eel
6. Paul Stanley
7. The Devil Stole The Beat From The Lord
8. Dogday Mornings
9. Venus In Force
10. 5 vs. 7
11. Lonely
12. Renvoyer

The Hellacopters tour dates in 2024:

May 28 – Razzamatazz, Barcelona (Spain)
May 29 – Repvblicca, Valencia (Spain)
May 30 – París 15, Malaga (Spain)
May 31 – La Riviera, Madrid (Spain)
June 1 – Santana 27, Bilbao (Spain)