review: No Bros

No Bros

Export of Hell

Pure Steel Records

13 September 2019

The Austrian band No Bros began in 1974, according to Metal Archives, although due to the usual personnel changes, they have had various name changes: first as Target, then as No Bros, then as Schubert, and then back as No Bros; or something like that. As you can imagine, a bunch of young Austrians forming a band in the middle of the 1970s, the heavy rock of the time (now called heavy metal, classic rock, progressive rock and hard rock) must have had a tremendous motivation for them. In the very late 1970s and very early 1980s all this music begins to be called heavy metal by more and more writers (sometimes as an insult) and more bands like the idea of being part a new worldwide phenomenon in rock and roll music. In 1982, says Metal Archives, the first No Bros album was a live recording called Heavy Metal Party, which is the name of a song and another song is called “Metal Man.” The album has a song called “Reggae,” but it’s not reggae, it’s a heavy metal song that starts out with a bit of a fun intro and then gets to the rocking. The point here is that No Bros saw themselves as part of the rise of heavy metal. The music sounds like a faster-paced, slicker style of late 1970s heavy rock, not very far away from classic Deep Purple/Uriah Heep/Rainbow or music like that, but with a bit more bounce in the step, including in the presence of the keyboards.

Besides those American die-hard fans of all things Pure Steel Records, this band remains almost unknown in USA, correct? After decades of activity and a whole bunch of albums under the umbrella of the several No Bros names, in 2019 the band has a new album. The album has a terrible title and even more terrible artwork. Rock fans might think that this is an extreme metal band or perhaps some kind of shock rock band. Be that as it may, but this is the important fact for fans of 1970s-style of heavy rock (fans of heavy metal, progressive rock, hard rock, classic rock, and of today’s 1970s-loving doom/stoner styles), these elder statesmen of Austrian rock have put together a solid, quality album of hard, blues-based rocking music that stands up very well to their long history and legacy. This is the type of music that has a very broad appeal for fans of heavy rock in general. Of course, we are talking about musicians who are in their 50s, and some of them are their 60s nowadays. It’s oldie but goodie heavy rock.

To conclude, they have a weird name for a band; they have an uneven history (are there any Austrian documentaries on this band?), they have bad album covers—though not nearly as embarrassingly bad as their neighbors Scorpions—and the new album has once again bad cheesy artwork more fitting for an old-school extreme metal band (like a black metal band). All of that is true. However, the music in 2019 is confident and knowledgeable veteran rock; that’s what’s truly important. puresteel-records.com/releases/view/638/Export_Of_Hell