Leftovers

With a terrible band name like the Leftovers and an album title used by Montreal's My Dog Popper about 15 years ago, you'd think these guys would be one of the worst bands around. Surprisingly, this isn't so. While these Swedes aren't terribly original or clever, this album still somehow manages to rock like a bastard. Recorded at Sweden's Sunlight Studios (of Hellacopters and Backyard Babies fame), the Leftovers sound like a mix of all these heavy rocking Scandinavian bands but with a very small twist of their own sound thrown in. The leadoff track, "Knockin' Me Dead," is one of the most intense rock songs out there right now, sounding like an even more raunched-out Danko Jones (with a slight Scandinavian accent, mind you) fronting a Super Shitty to the Max-era Hellacopters. Unfortunately, no other tracks have the exact insane quality of this first one, but make no mistake, the rock here is pretty damn hot. The Leftovers originality problem rears its head all throughout this disc, but it just doesn't get any worse than with the titles of the songs "Burning Love" (not an Elvis cover) and "Gimmee Danger" (not a Stooges cover). For most bands this would result in a big "fuck off, quit now and make it quick!" but as derivative and dopey as this record is, there's just no denying that it kicks ass. It just goes to show that sometimes you don't need any brains to make a good rock record, just balls the size of NBA basketballs.