HAVANNA HEAT CLUB – Specially Made For Your Satisfaction

From the Capitol of Germany come Havanna Heat Club who took their name from an obscure seventies porn movie. Since the guys are still young, the question is… how do they know that flick?

Anyway, their music is also anything but old fashioned. Specially Made For Your Satisfaction is, after their self titled 2005 release, the second album to deliver an entertaining mixture of Punk, Stoner and Rock ‘n’ Roll full of sweat and action, which regularly is accompanied by a laid back Desert Rock attitude. What sounds difficult to combine at first glance, turns into a winning combination several times over the course of the next 36 minutes.

The album offers variety from fast, straight rockers and a hand full of  great and catchy melodies. After a few spins the melodic strength becomes obvious, when one just cannot get “Dance In The Darkness” or the extremely catchy “Mr. Paul” out of one’s head. One of the reasons is the average length of the songs that make it easy to listen to the album more than once without becoming bored. Only the song “Welcome To The World” is the exception and with its over four minutes one of the weakest songs on Specially Made For Your Satisfaction.

This kind of rock which the band performed as support act for Australian Rock legend Rose Tattoo works best when the motto is “pedal to the Metal”. The fast “Get Up!” and “Unleashed” are definitely highlights of the album, but one would do them no justice to reduce the band to that kind of songs. Mostly, the compositions are slower, mellower, and often only Johannes Gotaut’s voice which is reminiscent of Lemmy Kilmister at times, saves the tracks from becoming only “normal” Alternative Rock. Except for “Disillusioned With An Easy Mind”, where that failed and which makes this song and the jazzy “Question Of Dose” expendable. The instrumental side is inconspicuous as it is usually the case with bands like this, and the riff lovers will hardly find much to enjoy. It seems the Berlin quartet tried to mix all influences into their sound they could lay their hands on. That makes for a fresh and interesting album, but also means that almost everybody will have a few songs which he will rather skip, and highlights may vary from person to person.

So: The next big thing? Hardly. Worth checking out? Definitely.

Listen to: Get Up!, Dance In The Darkness, Unleashed, Mr. Paul