There’s no doubt about the health of rock’n’roll in the minds of Swedish rabble-rousers Troubled Horse. From the off, they charge at us with thundering riffs, their adrenaline-fuelled slabs of hard rock passionately carrying the torch of classic rock history into the future and beyond, swerving all-out nostalgia but celebrating their roots. And it’s a riot.
As the title suggests, there’s a social heart beating under there too, the rich tradition of standing up for the underdog strong in their veins. ‘Haven’t you heard? The future’s for the wealthy ones,’ charismatic frontman Martin Heppich cries on The Filthy Ones, before channelling Johnny Rotten: ‘Don’t you know that there’s no future for you?’
That it’s followed by a gleaming riff that prostrates itself before Thin Lizzy on the garage blues-meets-Metallica Which Way To The Mob is a bonus. Saddle up for a wild ride.
