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Who knows what Motorowl’s parents were thinking when these Leipzig-based lads started this band in their teens?

With lyrics that reference Lucifer and a sound that is way beyond their years, either their folks had Black Sabbath and Deep Purple at the top of their record pile or the drugs in Thuringia, Germany are pretty damn good. Seven years plugging away has finally seen the release of Om Generator: eight tracks of doomy, stonerish 70s-style rocking odes. Singer Max Hemmann’s voice needs to ripen but otherwise, their age considered, this is a solid debut.

At its most engaging it boasts incendiary riffs and stomping rhythms. It takes a while to get going but standout track Old Mans Maze has all the elements of a genuinely decent proto-metal effort thanks in part to the mixing and mastering skills of Dan Swanö. Om Generator does a fine job of encapsulating gloomy mustachioed hard rock, they just need more life experience to inject some grit into those vocals.

With over 10 years’ experience writing for Metal Hammer and Prog, Holly has reviewed and interviewed a wealth of progressively-inclined noise mongers from around the world. A fearless voyager to the far sides of metal Holly loves nothing more than to check out London’s gig scene, from power to folk and a lot in between. When she’s not rocking out Holly enjoys being a mum to her daughter Violet and working as a high-flying marketer in the Big Smoke.