’Wooooohooooh, wait, hold it!’ yelled my CD player. ‘That, my friend, smells like glam rock! Are you sure you want to do this to me…and yourself?!’

‘Sorry, old friend,’ I replied and bowed my head in apology, ‘the guys who usually do this stuff are really busy right now, so I had to take it.’

‘I’m not sure I want to do this,’ said the player rather disgruntled.

‘No, neither am I,’ retorted I, ‘but you know that I was no stranger to Mötley Crüe back in the nineties. It’s been a while, I know, but you have to accept Whitesnake, Skidrow, Def Leppard and stuff from time to time as well…’

‘Well, yeah,’ the suspicious CD player finally agreed, ‘you have those fallouts, don’t you. Let’s give it a go then.’

And that one go turned into one more. And then another.

‘Hey, this isn’t half bad!’ exclaimed the CD player in merry surprise.

And this time I had to agree. The third release from Swedish/Danish combo Star*Rats isn’t half bad, not even for someone who’s usually more into death and thrash.

Never mind the glam looks, the music is good quality, party evoking hardrock with direct references to Skidrow, Bon Jovi and Whitesnake.

Especially drummer Braun and guitarist immediately impress, but all in all ‘Screw the Consequences’ has a rock solid and warm bass-filled foundation.

Vocalist Magnus generally does what he does really well – but his range is certainly not the greatest in rock, something you can clearly sense in a tune like As I Stay that could have deserved a lot more dynamics.

Also, the inclusion of Bon Jovi’s I’ll Be There For You in a punked up version is not bad idea – if only I wasn’t left with the feeling that this is the style chosen because the Star*Rats fronter can’t do a Bon Jon.