PIONEERS

The musical world is rich and powerful and that is also a correct description of Siena Root's music. This is a Swedish hard rock band which aren't very progressive but still play in a progressive spirit or a psychedelic mood, without being psychedelic thankfully. "Pioneers" which is totally new is their fifth record and all their records has got very high (but few) ratings on this site. Especially their first "A new day dawning" from 2003 and their third "Far from the sun" from 2008. 2014 year's record follows a five year spectrum of now records. Their record has a lovely cover with a yellow landscape and the sillouettes of the five band-members heads in the background sky. Left from former line up is Love Forsberg, the band's drummer and Sam Riffer, the band's bassist. Otherwise the lead guitarist and organist KG West is gone as well as the lead vocalist Sartez Faraj. They are replaced by the keyboardist Erik Errka Petersson(who has played with my choir actually), the new vocalist Jonas Åhlén and the guitarist Matte Gustafsson.

"Pioneers" is a record of very high standard music which will please folk who like the hard rock of the late sixties and early seventies. The music is straight and melodic, filled with heavy organ sound and a caressing hard rock vocal. The musicians themselves has beautiful beards and it's obvious they love what they are doing. The only shame is that they have chosen to sing in English, that makes their music less interesting. I compare with the Norwegian band Höst which did a better choice. But still this music is lovely and very pleasurable. I think almost every track is similarily good but "In my kitchen" is absolutely the best(9/10), calmer and more atmospheric than the others. "Between the lines" and "Root rock pioneers" are two other songs I recommend(8/10). The record is extremely even so you won't find any bad or uninteresting tracks. This is specially a band and a record for fans of classical hard rock such as the late sixties' Deep Purple. This record is definitely at least a four star record. Recommended!