Headcharger from France, a hardcore band with rock'n roll flavour. Their self-titled album just came out and it is time we take a look at this band. They have been around for a while and you might know them as "Doggystyle", a name they left behind them earlier this year.

The cover shows a gas station/truckstop somewhere, with a smooth car tuning looking logo above it, with Headcharger spelled inside it. The cd itself looks like a big wheel which adds to the trucker feel.

As soon as I played this record, it immediately reminded me of 'the shape of punk to come' by Refused. In my opinion a good album. It finds a good balance between chaotic rhythms and riffs, rock 'n roll and hardcore. Headcharger gives us a bit of a rougher version of the Refused style and while doing so, they did not do a bad job at all. A lot of variety in the riffs, but not too much chaos (where Dillinger went wrong in my opinion). Interesting music, with pauses in riffs and intro's. Especially 'falling asleep masses''s intro really suprised me with it's long pauses in the riffs, filling up the void each time the riff was played to finally blast at full force.

But where the riffs are varied throughout the songs, they sometimes tend to sound a little alike. Seem to be the same sequence of guitar chords. It's not really annoying, but it tends to affect the listening life of a record. It bores easier. The vocals somewhat sound alike through a lot of the songs though, a little sticky with cliché rock 'n roll honey. But a lot of times the vocals break loose and go lead a life of their own like in the end of 'the other side of the coin' or the different vocal style on the chorusses on 'the scream'. I wish they'd do this more often. They seem more than capable (the vocals). Another thing that could use a little tuning is the use of cymbals. Sometimes they are used a bit too much. Living on the edge is great, but sometimes the drums went a little over that edge. I think this is a good record with a few small points that could use some attention. But just attention. It is a good record, I enjoyed listening to it.