On the 27th of November in 2012, five guys were sitting in a basement and shared a couple of beers, listening to old school 80’s Heavy Metal. In the middle of all joviality, they somehow felt nostalgic and a bit frustrated that various new productions could not measure up to the old pure masterpieces. They decided to do something about it and as a result, AMBUSH was born. A demo was recorded in 2013 as well a video for the song "Don't Shoot (Let 'Em Burn)". Janne Stark also included this song on the bonus CD that came with his book "The Heaviest Encyclopedia Of Swedish Hard Rock And Heavy Metal Ever!". AMBUSH signed with High Roller Records in late 2013. The single '
Natural Born Killers / Heading East' will be released March 7th, 2014.
Official Bio #1The reservoir of new Swedish Metal bands seems to be just endless. Hot on the trails of High Roller recording artists Dead Lord, Humbucker and Heavy Tiger there is Ambush. Oskar Jacobsson (vocals), Olof Engkvist (guitars), Adam Hagelin (guitars), Ludwig Sjöholm (bass) and Linus Fritzson (drums) have all played in other bands before Ambush. “We were a close gang of friends so it felt natural to play together when the opportunity presented itself,” remarks drummer Linus. He continues: “We were sitting in a basement and shared a couple of beers, listening to old school heavy metal. In the middle of all joviality, we somehow felt nostalgic and a bit frustrated that various new productions could not measure up to the old pure masterpieces. We decided to do something about it and as a result, Ambush was born.” Well done, lads!
In August 2013, Ambush issued their first demo tape (forming the basis for their deal with High Roller Records). The current 7" single »Natural born Killers« (with “Heading East” on the B-Side) is a taster for the band's full-length album due to be out on High Roller in spring 2014. “The two tracks on the single sum up the feel and the sound of the upcoming album well. We think it's a very strong album and these two particular songs give you a great idea of what is to come,” summons up Linus.
As mentioned above, it's hard to overlook how much new heavy metal talent there is in Sweden at the moment. Of course, like with the whole Scandinavian Street Rock 'n' Roll scene (the originators being Turbo Negro, Gluecifer and the Backyard Babies), there might come the point of oversaturation. Linus Frizson does not fear such a scenario: “It's great that there's a lot of good bands out there representing Sweden but we don't see them as competition. We're focusing on our own music and what we do to make the 'Ambush sound' as personal as possible. The music that we make doesn't, in our opinion, have an expiration date. Whether it comes from Sweden or not doesn't matter as long as it is good heavy metal.”
Stylistically, Ambush are not miles away from current Swedish bands like RAM and Enforcer but they're far from being mere copycats as Linus explains: “They are both great bands with similarities to our music but we try to keep our style and sound as pure and unique as possible. We play our heavy metal hard, raw, melodic and with a touch of evil. The primary influence comes from early 1980's heavy metal (of course there are no synthesizers).” So you better watch out: Ambush could be the next big thing from Sweden! - Matthias Mader
Official Bio #2In August 2013, Oskar Jacobsson (vocals), Olof Engkvist (guitars), Adam Hagelin (guitars), Ludwig Sjöholm (bass) and Linus Fritzson (drums) issued their first demo tape (forming the basis for their deal with High Roller Records). Ambush’s first 7" single »Natural Born Killers« (with “Heading East” on the B-Side), was released on High Roller in 2014, followed by the critically acclaimed debut album »Firestorm«.
Stylistically, Ambush are not miles away from current Swedish bands like RAM and Enforcer, their main heroes are Judas Priest and Accept though. According to drummer Linus Fritzson, the new album »Desecrator« builds on what the Swedes have achieved with »Firestorm«: “We have received a lot of positive response. The album has sold very well in a lot of different countries all over the world. We are happy that people liked it this much. We hope that people will like the next one just as much or even more.”
»Desecrator« contains nine brand new tracks and will surely satisfy the band’s growing legions of fans. “Thanks for the kind words,” says Linus Fritzson. “We feel very confident with the material, album cover and the production. We believe that we tied it up well. We like to write our heavy metal in different tempos and we think that we have come up with a well-rounded heavy metal album. We are very excited with this album and can't wait to see where it's going to take us. We hope we can spread our heavy metal even further and we don't want to disappoint our fans with what we think is going be a great album. Up until now, we have conquered over seven countries but we hope to defile even more of the world with the upcoming album »Desecrator«.”
»Desecrator« is indeed a well-rounded heavy metal album but I like to think that stylistically it shows a bit more variety than »Firestorm«. "Night Of The Defilers" has this kind of AC/DC beat about it. At least to my ears. Good tune, no question. Linus Fritzson wonders: “Ha, this is the first time anyone has compared us to AC/DC, but once again, heavy metal can be played in many different ways. This tune has a more groovy feel to it and we think it fits right in on the new album. Usually in the past a lot of people have compared us with Priest and Accept, but we only take that as a compliment.”
“The Chain Reaction” is indeed one of the more Priestish numbers on the new album, a grinding mid-tempo crusher with some great vocal work and very interesting lyrics. Linus Fritzson explains: “With all the nuclear tension in the world today, we wrote a song about the only two atomic bombs ever dropped and the consequences they had.”
With a strong second album »Desecrator« under their collective belts, Ambush are ready to take on the world (as Judas Priest so poignantly sung). - Matthias Mader
