To call expectations for Danish metal band Volbeat’s third effort high is like calling Lemmy of Mötorhead “kinda tough”. ALL SCANDINAVIAN have heard the album, released world wide September 1, and can reveal that it should be more than able to follow the gold and platinum success of ‘The Strength/The Sound/The Songs’ (2005) and ‘Rock The Rebel/Metal The Devil’ (2007).

The preliminary verdict on ‘Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood’ is that the expectations are met – and possibly even exceeded – but Volbeat will probably lose some of their hardcore metal fans as the band take their “metal ‘n’ roll”-style even further away from traditional metal than before.

Their punk (especially Social Distortion) and country influences are even more obvious than on the previous albums, but what’s even more controversial are the tracks ‘Mary Ann’s Place’, featuring female guest vocalist Pernille Rosendahl of The Storm, ‘Still Counting’ that opens with a reggae (and frankly quite No Doubt-ish) guitar riff, and not least ‘Light A Way’ that features (gasp!) violins… which in the metal world is similar to wearing a pink sweater on stage.

However, Volbeat somehow make the experiments work (with the possible exception of the reggae-riff) and this record with its potent mix of metal, rockabilly, punk and country will surely widen Volbeat’s audience even more.

UPDATE: Full review of ‘Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood’ here!

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