Shakra – Just Live Loud!

There is a sense of reliability to Shakra. There always has been. Even during challenging periods marked by lineup changes, the Swiss rockers have continued to deliver on a solid level. Since the return of singer Mark Fox in 2014, the band seem to have found a particularly comfortable place, delivering one strong album after another.

Their 14th studio album, Just Live Loud!, marks their first release on Frontiers Records Srl, and that reliability has undoubtedly played a significant role in landing them a deal with the label.

Knowing that a major part of Shakra’s appeal lies in knowing what you’re going to get from them, expecting their first album on a new record label to be dramatically different would be peculiar. And while the artwork certainly screams Frontiers Records, Just Live Loud! is, in just about every other way, a quintessential Shakra album – a collection of energetic hard rock and power metal built around a fine balance of up-tempo rockers, mid-tempo anthems and über-catchy ballads.

Sonically, the band are on familiar ground as well. Catchy vocals, razor-sharp guitars and massive drums compete for the listener’s attention, while the overall production follows the slightly more rounded and modern approach heard on the band’s recent albums, particularly Invincible. The bigger and more compressed drum sound does distinguish the album from the classic Bob Rock-inspired production that characterised much of Shakra’s back catalogue, although it doesn’t fundamentally alter their identity.

The album opens fittingly with “Let the Show Begin”, which ticks just about every Shakra box and sets the stage for what is to come. Effective riffs, a simple driving drumbeat, a big chorus, gang vocals and an outstanding guitar solo are all present and correct. From there, the band deliver a couple more high-octane rockers that live up to the album’s title before taking a somewhat unexpected detour with a cover of Anastacia’s 2004 hit “Left Outside Alone”, performed as a duet with Swiss singer Seraina Telli.

Unfortunately, the cover adds very little. It feels more like an attempt to broaden Shakra’s reach than a song the band genuinely needed to record, and its status as one of the album’s pre-release singles only strengthens that impression. There is nothing particularly wrong with the performance, but there is very little reason to return to it either.

The predictability of Just Live Loud! can sometimes be spotted before the music even starts. The title track is inevitably a fist-pumping mid-tempo rocker. “Another Day in the Universe” is an infectious up-tempo number. “New Tattoo” is a little too literal in its tribute to AC/DC, while “High Above Silence” is, naturally, the power ballad.

That predictability is both the album’s greatest strength and its most obvious weakness. Shakra know exactly what they are good at, and they execute that formula with impressive consistency. But they also rarely surprise the listener. Even after only a few songs, it becomes fairly easy to anticipate where the album is going next.

Fortunately, Just Live Loud! ends strongly. The closing stretch includes one of those songs where Shakra dig a little deeper and add a more epic dimension to their sound. It is something the band have successfully done before, and it is also something the album could have used more of. Those moments suggest that there is still more room within the Shakra formula than the band sometimes allow themselves to explore.

Thom Blunier remains one of the band’s secret weapons. His guitar work is consistently excellent, and his solos provide some much-needed twists to songs that are otherwise built from fairly simple and familiar ingredients. His ability to add character without unnecessarily complicating the songwriting cannot be overstated.

The production works well too. Everything is nicely balanced, and the slightly more modern approach suits the material. It does, however, take a little of the character away from the band’s sound. The difference is noticeable, but never enough to spoil the overall experience.

And ultimately, that brings us back to reliability.

Knowing what you’re going to get from Shakra comes with a solid dose of predictability, and that predictability comes with a price. But reliability is also a quality that shouldn’t be underestimated, especially when it comes from a band with a substantial back catalogue that may vary in quality but rarely disappoints.

Just Live Loud! is another strong Shakra album. It won’t dramatically alter anyone’s perception of the band, nor does it need to. Instead, it delivers exactly what its title promises – loud, energetic and melodic rock from a band that knows its strengths and continues to play to them. Hopefully, the move to Frontiers Records will give Shakra the wider reach they deserve and, perhaps, finally bring them to some of the European countries they have largely managed to avoid for so long – Scandinavia included.

www.shakra.ch