Album review: KROKUS – Long Stick Goes Boom (Live from Da House of Rust)

Sony [Release date 26.05.14]

Krokus are a Swiss rock band that I never paid any attention to back in the day and didn’t even realise they were still going. Naming your band after a flower, albeit with the German spelling of crocus (and with the word “rok” in the middle), was a risky move…but it has worked for Krokus as they are still going strong after almost 40 years in the business.

“Long Stick Goes Boom” documents the band’s return to where it all started, namely their hometown of Solothurn, Switzerland and features a wide selection of the early classics (1980 – 1983) plus a sprinkle of recent numbers (2006 – 2013) but nothing from in between…

Krokus has never been too stable over the years with no band member actually having played in every line-up but what we have here is as close to classic as we could expect – founder Chris von Rohr on bass, Fernando von Arb, Mark Kohler and Mandy Meyer on guitars, Flavio Mezzodi on drums and Marc Storace on vocals.

We kick off with Krokus’s most famous number…Long Stick Goes Boom with its distinctly AC/DC groove and then continue in the AC/DC vein with Hallelujah Rock’n’Roll and Go Baby Go…you can almost believe these are taken from Angus and company’s secret vault.

American Woman needs no introduction with it being Krokus’s 1982 cover of The Guess Who’s classic number. Tokyo Nights and Screaming in the Night both bring classic Scorpions to mind. The rest…well…the riffing, the rhythm and Marc Storace’s vocals lead us back to AC/DC.

Krokus may never be able to move away from that classic AC/DC sound mixed with a little Euro metal a la Scorpions…but then who cares if it is this enjoyable! Time to check out some of their studio albums methinks.

Old fashioned good time rock and roll…and a lot better than I expected! The band definitely enjoyed this homecoming – a top-notch performance throughout. ***½

Review by Phil Berisford

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)