Rock & Roll Is Dead

Album Review

Just why would an album be titled Rock & Roll Is Dead when the contents within are good old-fashioned rock & roll? Undoubtedly, it's because one of Sweden's most popular rock acts, the Hellacopters, is displeased with the state of rock music. So it would be a highly logical guess that the title is aimed at all the homogenized rock acts running amok on the charts. While most "retro rockers" have no problem replicating the sonics of yesteryear, it's when it comes to penning memorable tracks like their heroes that they usually run into a stumbling block. But the Hellacopters are one of the exceptions — as evidenced here by such standouts as "Monkeyboy," the very Stonesy "Leave It Alone," and "Murder on My Mind." And as with most modern-day garage revivalists, the Hellacopters can't resist slipping in a few "bash and wail" numbers as well ("Bring It on Home," "Put Out the Fire," etc.). For those seeking garage rock patterned after late-'60s rock & roll (MC5, the Stooges, a dash of the Stones, and the Amboy Dukes), Rock & Roll Is Dead may just be your choice album of 2006 — although it was issued a year earlier in the Hellacopters' homeland.