I'll confess I didn't know a whole hell of a lot about the Swedish hard rock quartet Mustasch prior to checking out their 4th full length album Latest Version Of The Truth. The band has been kicking around since the late 90's and with a new worldwide deal courtesy of Regain Records, it's given them a clearer focus and a renewed energy which has given them a bit of a kick in the ass, which they've successfully transferred over to the music. They certainly don't waste any time as the first track "In The Night" sprints out of the gate with all cylinders firing at maximum efficiency. With an abundance of meaty guitar riffs from Hannes Hansson , the tougher than leather vocal pipes of singer Ralf Gyllenhammar and the lean, rumbling rhythm section of bassist Mats Stam Johansson and drummer Mats Dojan Hansson, chugging things forward, it's clearly a no-brainer why this energetic track was chosen to kick off the record. The second track "Double Nature", like its name and lyrics suggest, also has a bit of a dual personality musically, as they chose to augment this mid tempo rocker with strings at the beginning of the song and again in the mid section interlude. Either way it all works perfectly. "Falling Down" and "The Heckler" are pretty much your straight ahead hard rock tracks while "I Wanna Be Loved" is another high octane number which breaks down into a cool "Symptom Of The Universe" vibe towards the later half of the song.
After the brief, mellow string heavy instrumental "Scyphozoa", the second half of the disc begins with "Spreading The Worst" which is an average sounding number and not much more. "Bring Me Everyone" is next up and while this track features a very catchy chorus and an all too brief solo from Hannes, the song unfortunately never really gets off the ground. "Forever Begins Today" finds the band offsetting their sound with strings once again before "I Am Not Aggressive" returns them back to the harder rock attack which worked so well during the first half of the disc. Mustasch does leave one final surprise for the last song on the album "The End". This song clocks in at just over nine minutes and definitely shows the band's flair for experimenting. They incorporate brief snippets from many of the songs on the disc into a bit of a sonic collage, before it takes a completely different turn around the six minute mark. At this point the track winds down and Gyllenhammar's heartfelt vocals are accompanied only by a piano, until the strings triumphantly return with the majestic sounds of a full choir in tow to close things out on a definite high note.
I would certainly recommend The Latest Version Of The Truth because not only do these guys have a knack for writing catchy and melodic hard rock, they're also not afraid to experiment sonically and try new things, like when they add strings to offset the straight ahead rock tracks. It makes for a refreshing change. The songs and performances are tight and the disc is very well produced, yet not too glossy or slick. Even though I felt the band lost a bit of momentum on the second half of the album, this is still a very worthy effort nonetheless.
Track Listing
1) In The Night
2) Double Nature
3) Falling Down
4) The Heckler
5) I Wanna Be Loved
6) Scyphozoa
7) Spreading The Worst
8) Bring Me Everyone
9) Forever Begins Today
10) I Am Not Agressive
11) The End