Gary Hiland Trio

Catch Me

(Moondog Music)

Finnish Gary (real name Kari Kunnas) has impressive names Hi-Fly Rangers and Maibell & Misfires on his resume. So his papers are in soundly fractured order. Together now with slicked associates Janne and 'Dalle,' he locates finger-popping style with cooly understated bearing and articulates it with nonchalant fluency. (Look down the bar: Every guy staring wordlessly at the drink before him is deep in thought about a "Devil in High Heel Shoes." Whisperin' Bill once noted sagely "Honky Tonks are made for men with women on their minds.") 

Recommended: "Devil in High Heels," "Tomorrow," "Make with the Lovin'," "Keep Movin' On," "Shame," "Gipsy Woman," "Easy and Free," "Dirty Stroll"

Videos: "Devil in High Heels" (live 2026)   "Make with the Lovin'" (live 2024)   "Easy and Free" (live 2026)

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King Drapes

Säännöt rakkauden   three-cut single

(Self-issued)

Prepare to move your bones. It wasn't until the titular song had spun thrice that its understated qualities were fully apparent to the present reviewer. Earnest. Cohesive. Substantial. It's preceded by a pair of somewhat more limber-limbed jaunts along Bop Street, their agility and robust manners landing them square in the icy cool category. (The disc title means "Rules of Love;" one learns them through trial and error as the game is played.)

Recommended: "Missä lienee," "Polttava tunne," "Säännöt rakkauden"

Videos: "Missä lienee"   "Polttava tunne"   "Säännöt rakkauden"

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Pontus J Back

Gospel Express

(Talking Music)

"I had such great fun recording that album!" Pontus recently messaged me. The Rockpastor's name does adorn the cover, but the Supreme Creator is the true star. (Pontus would surely voice agreement.) "God Loves Rock'n'Roll" encapsulates the good Mr. Back's dual merits: an internationally roving spreader of The Word all must hear, and a seriously gifted throat/gittar artisan whose road to present devotion was paved with Metallic road-doggery and wild-side excess. "I'm still here," he testifies. 

Recommended: "Gospel Express," "All of God," "I Want to Be a Better Son," "My Godly Woman," "I'm Still Here," "Justified by Grace," "Talk is Cheap," "The Flame that Burns Forever," "Many Will See," "It's OK to Have a Bad Day," "Renew My Mind," "Ordinary Man," "Alcohol is Dangerous"

Videos: "Gospel Express"   "All of God"   "It's OK to Have a Bad Day"   

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King Drapes

Briskness, cohesion, and compact songcraft combine with characteristic Ted directness. True, challenging effrontery remains in the shadow, that moderate melodicism might buoy listeners. But there's steel in this velvet.

Video: "Taas me mennään"

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De La Rocka

"The Vampire"   single

(Self-issued)

The dapper ebony attire sported in accompanying video by six-string savage Panu De La Rocka and volatile affilates - including voice-of-menace Dax Dragster - is bitingly apt, given the scarifying nature of the minstrelsy revealed. Darkness from the nethermost zone infuses ghastly proclaimings, whilst direful passages rocket in tower block ear-shatter.

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Ragged Revue

The First Rodeo

(Self-issued)

World analysts and the hipper in global grassroots populaces, alike, need to dig flames bursting brightly in Slovenia: Rock'n'Roll, often in its alarm-lights-flashing, rampageous, Neo-rockabilly and Cowpunk vestments, is shouting notice that matters are volatile in the Eastern region. All instruments/songs must be credited to right-spirited firestarters Joni Järlstrӧm and Joonas Hiltunin; the pair give incendiary accounts of themselves in crackling fashion. Listeners with cinematic minds' eyes will find closer "Kick, Stitches, and Two Broken Bones" evokes eyes-locked, crouching brawlers, circling slowly...

Recommended: "Texas Tuxedo," "Guys at the Gas Station," "Ne'er-Do-Well," "It's All About Rock'n'Roll," "Ain't No Crime," "Kick, Stitches, and Two Broken Bones"

Videos: "Texas Tuxedo"   "Guys at the Gas Station"  "It's All About Rock'n'Roll"  "Kicks, Stitches, and Two Broken Bones"

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Korpiklaani

Rankarumpu

(Nuclear Blast Records)

To virginal speculators, Folk Metal may seem a curious entity. But its magnetism overwhelms all qualms. Hard-crunching bombardments meld with fetching airs of Euro vintage, seeking - and securing - ears weary of stasis and attentive to fresh ambitions. Peculiar spice, tittilating to wayfarers, all. (My wife's ruling: "They're on it!")

Recommended: "Kotomaa," "Aita," "Saunaan," "Mettään," "Kalmisto," "No perkele," "Nouse," "Orrakkelit"

Videos: "Kotomaa" (live)   "Aita"   "Mettään"   "Orrakkelit"

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Psycho Bats

Kuopio Goes Psycho! - Live

(Self-issued)

Finnish wreckers smash aside all impediments to their amphetemine-pumped exhibition. Adherents rave like creatures untethered. "Creepshow Carnival" is but one specimen of fervid propositions awaiting those who put stylus to grooves.

Recommended: "Nightmare," "Old Times," "Hot Rod Bats," "Creepshow Carnival," "Bats and Roll," "Conquistador," "World Wide Horror," "Twisted Truth," "Fast Bats," "Make Psychobilly Great Again"

Videos: "Nightmare" (live)   "Old Times" (official live video)   "Creepshow Carnival" (live)   "Fast Bats" (live)

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Pääesintyjät

Riimejä ja riitasointuja

(Bluelight Records)

From this Iowa vantage spot, the Rillumareibilly Cruise can't be espied. But feet are surely flying, as Lahti's Pääesiintyjät discharge their trademarked Rillumareibilly - an idiosyncratic genre hangout where American roots stylings and Finnish rillumarei crank twangs and play mumblety-peg with flick-knives. rillumarei is marked by lilting airs, traditionally realized with accordion, trumpet, piano, harmonica, and mischievous, stentorian voices like that of Käukö Käyhko.

The steamrolling Rockabilly about which traditional airs are entwined is the stuff of never-ending parties, and requires no further remark. Once swung, newcomers will crave returns.

Recommended: "Miksi näin," "Rillumareitä," "Tuntemattomaan," "Ohikiitävää," "Vain yksi sydän," "Yksi ja ainoa," "Valoon," "Tanssin kanssa aavaiden"

Videos: "Miksi näin"   "Rillumareitä" (live) [The Blasters' "American Music"]   "Tuntemattomaan"   "Ohikiitävää" (live)

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Jorma Lover & the Others

"Cry No More"   single

(Self-issued)

Masterly picker Jorma and collected Finnish sidemen dig that, once one has survived the tortures that befall flames forsaken, a shiny vista promising crisp enchantments beckons. Amid gleefully-romping, Country-marrowed Rockabilly, Jorma kicks out a declaration of intent to explore wonders that sizzle before the newly fancy-free. And more than once, he races up and down the fretboard like a man giddy with appreciation of arousals potential. 

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The Bullet Biters

Serial Drowner   7" 3-song EP

(Bad Billy Records)

With two decades in their past, Finland's Bullet Biters perpetrate so sharply as to crush lessers. Bursting forth is neo-Rockabilly transmogrified into beastliness. Experience shouts its worth. The triad nimbly executes unanticipated switch-ups, stomping in creature creepers. Cuts were drawn from a forthcoming full-length release; Bad Billy advises just 200 black-vinyl copies of this sampler will feel buyers' hands.

Recommended: "Serial Drowner" (At presstime, only this track was available for study.)

Video: "Serial Drowner" (live)

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