A Single Ticket to Paradise is Hearse’s fifth album in 8 years of existence and when main man Johan Liiva quit Arch Enemy all those years ago I for one never thought he’d be this prolific. 2006s In These Veins was a highpoint for this Swedish band finally getting the combination of classic heavy metal, death metal and stoner groove right with Liiva leading from the front like always but I’m happy to report that Hearse has now done one better. A Single Ticket to Paradise is the band’s finest moment and is some quality extreme metal.

The album starts with an intro that owes a lot to 80s hard rock/ heavy metal with some wild guitar playing and then settles down into a manic attack on the senses while never really sacrificing groove or melody for all out aggression. Hearse plays a brand of death n roll that really is all their own. If the Entombed blueprint involved a solid punk and Motorhead influence, then Hearse deliver a version of death n roll that owes more to 80s heavy metal, hard rock and the classic Swedish death metal sound. The guitarist, Mattias Ljung is never afraid to let it rip and Liiva’s barks haven’t sounded this good in a long while.

Stand out tracks include The Moth with some super guitar playing and an inspired vocal performance from Liiva, Sundown with its classic thrash vibe going head to head with an early Savatage feel, An Emotional Fraud is again catchy 80s hard rock dressed up in a death metal tone with some more great guitar playing while Degeneration X is a groovy thrash monster with Liiva sounding like a better version of L G Petrov.

There really isn’t a bad song on here. It’s almost like the band was locked up in a room and forced to finish recording the album before their supply of booze ran out. The result is a fast and manic take on death n roll that is full speed ahead but never at the cost of the groove.

A Single Ticket to Paradise is the sound of a band that has found its own feet and is supremely confident in its abilities. This album really should appeal to just about anybody who listens to heavy metal.



Label - Vic Recordings
Year of Release - 2009