Now, Michael Denner is not just any guitarist. He's one of the two guitarists in a band which helped form the musical taste of quite a few metal fans around the world when he along with a bunch of metal enthusiasts from Copenhagen, Denmark, formed a band called Mercyful Fate in 1981. You will agree, I trust, that the albums 'Melissa' and 'Don't Break the Oath' has a certain impact in the world of metal, eh? When Mercyful Fate came together during the nineties, Denner was there for 'In the Shadows', 'Time' and 'Into the Unknown' as well.
When the band King Diamond was formed later, Denner was in there for the creation of 'Fatal Portrait' and 'Abigail'. That kind of makes the man a god in my personal religion (I always did prefer King to Mercyful - I know opinions vary). Apart from the near-divine activities, Denner also did Zoser Mez and Force of Evil with his guitar partner in crime from Mercyful Fate, Hank Sherman. And of course the approximately one zillion guest appearances on albums by Volbeat, Notre Dame, Saturnus, etc.
Denners Trickbag has recently released their debut, and it's an album full of covers (one track being a Zoser Mez cover, though). This, you could say, is slightly unusual and you'd perhaps expect something more original from Mr. Denner. I suppose you're right. Although, mind you, the likelihood of you knowing any of these songs beforehand is minimal. I personally have heard two (2) of these tunes before (I Got the Fire - a Montrose song, of which I've only heard the Iron Maiden cover version and the Led Zep tune Hey, Hey What Can I Do), so they're almost all new to me. Mind you, this is not necessarily a matter of age; just because you're past 40 like me, it doesn't mean that you automatically know all this stuff!
Perhaps it's a matter of timing, but the songs don't really capture me, even if singer Thomas Berthel has a good voice and the whole band sound fine. Jawohl, Polecat Woman sounds alright, Dancing Madly Backwards is also very nice, but I constantly have the feeling that this is more about having a bit of fun with a bunch of 70s tunes from the record collection in a laid-back fashion more than anything. And that's cool, of course, but it doesn't really hit me in the way I like music to hit me emotionally.
