Review of Barracuda taken from the
Dutch magazine
MUSIC MINDED, March / April 2001.
English translation done by Barry Sprokkereef.

Motorpsycho - Baracuda

Napster's influence comtinues to be big. Too big, because more and more often, and sooner, you can download songs of albums that have not even been released yet. Norwegian band Motorpsycho know all about it. During the studio sessions for LTEC the group also recorded 7 nice, oldfashioned, steaming rock songs. In the end those songs didn't fit into the other concept of the album. That is why the band thought it would be fun to use the recordings for a 10" on the American Man's Ruin label. But: it seems like there was a leak somewhere, and Napster did the rest. So shortly after releasing their second Roadwork live cd, they are going to release the mini-album Barracuda themselves, with 7 exploding rocksongs, alltogether good for the oldfashioned LP length of nearly 34 minutes. Fans of the band who unjustifiedly found the last album too soft, can ease their hearts. Barracuda exists solely of uptempo work, with screaming tires, and crying guitar solos! Rest material? Forget it! Never before Motorpsycho sounded this compact, this powerful, and this heavilly rocking! Opener Heartbreaker is a rock song heavily leaning on the bass, what in the 60's could only have been done by bands like The Free, The Who, or Led Zeppelin. The rough, sometimes rancid atmosphere is effortlessly continued in the 6 following explosive tracks. A trumpet that accidently passes by on the left, and an overtaking piano on the right give the songs just a tiny bit more drive. But it's mainly Snah's (slide)guitar that makes Barracuda, which is named after the car from the 60s, a speed devil. Your Opel Kadett should be on it's way to the nearest Motorpsycho dealer ...

Willem de Kort