{"id":30811,"date":"2015-06-09T00:01:20","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T00:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=30811"},"modified":"2015-06-09T02:12:56","modified_gmt":"2015-06-09T02:12:56","slug":"album-review-hard-action-sinister-vibes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-hard-action-sinister-vibes\/","title":{"rendered":"HARD ACTION – Sinister Vibes (2015) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

HARD ACTION
Sinister Vibes<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nSvart (2015)<\/span>
Rating: 6\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Hard Action is a Finnish foursome formed in March 2014 by Speedtrap members Ville Valavuo (guitar) and Markus Hietamies (drums), along with vocalist \/ guitarist G\u00fcnter Kivioja (Chestburster). In late 2014, the current line-up was completed by bassist A-P Heinola (First Times).<\/p>\n

Sinister Vibes<\/em> is the debut release from a band that most certainly has no intention of being original, as long as they rock hard. Of course, with the many bands within the metal genre opting to regress rather than progress, it comes as no surprise that Hard Action\u2019s debut is a high energy, hard rockin\u2019 straight up rock \u2019n\u2019 roll record that doesn\u2019t try to be anything else. <\/p>\n

As to how long I can put up with such formulaic retro rock remains to be seen, but Sinister Vibes<\/em> is a half-decent affair boasting a punked up feel fused with a classic 70s and early 80s rock \u2019n\u2019 roll blast. It\u2019s riotous party music featuring some good tunes; namely the ballsy \u2018Dead Dogs\u2019 which is the lead single and possibly the album\u2019s catchiest moment, but it\u2019s still the back to basics, no frills sweaty orgy we\u2019ve been treated to on numerous occasions in the last decade or so. <\/p>\n

I guess when there\u2019s no more room in Hell, bands simply opt for the bog standard but sweaty punch \u2019n\u2019 roll where the riffs drive hard, the skins rattle with conviction and the vocals make an average stab at rock formality. Of course, we still need strong songs behind the fa\u00e7ade and Hard Action have enough in their locker to entertain for half of this album, but then it all becomes a tad mediocre. Indeed, the first half of the opus is rather good. Again, I revert back to the oily \u2018Dead Dogs\u2019, the straight up frenzy of \u2018Chosen Few\u2019, and the swaggering \u2018Cut To The Bone\u2019, but it\u2019s not music that will change your local street \u2013 let alone the world. Nevertheless, if you like fiery leads, and above all loose, and often raw rawk \u2019n\u2019 roll, then if you have a free half hour or so I\u2019d suggest sticking this one on. <\/p>\n

Other than the aforementioned, the tracks soon become to melt into one, Finland now joining Sweden at attempting to reinvent the retro with the slow-burning grooves of \u2018Night Moves\u2019 which is less frantic than those that came before, while \u2018Deadweight (Cut Me Loose)\u2019 is another rock \u2019n\u2019 roll by numbers anthem full of energy and matched by the catchy fires of \u2018Watch Me Burn\u2019 and \u2018Hey You\u2019. <\/p>\n

I get the feeling the band didn\u2019t take long recording this opus. That\u2019s probably the feel they were going for, but it doesn\u2019t always work to be honest. Indeed, a few songs feel like filler; beginning with \u2018Hey You\u2019 and continuing with the average title track, the dull stomp of \u2018Gunpoint\u2019 and closing \u2018No Lesson Learned\u2019, all of which seem to follow the same path \u2013 promising swagger, but delivering little in terms of hooking themselves into the memory.<\/p>\n

Hard Action is your bog standard band, but because of the fad at the moment they could well acquire a steady fanbase.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HARD ACTIONSinister Vibes Svart (2015)Rating: 6\/10 Hard Action is a Finnish foursome formed in March 2014 by Speedtrap members Ville Valavuo (guitar) and Markus Hietamies (drums), along with vocalist \/ guitarist G\u00fcnter Kivioja (Chestburster). In late 2014, the current line-up was completed by bassist A-P Heinola (First Times). Sinister Vibes is the debut release from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30811"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30824,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30811\/revisions\/30824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}