The trio impresses with its passionate, honest live shows and is reminiscent of bands like Rival Sons, Budgie, Garry Clark Jr. and Blue Cheer.
The band Atrio from Giessen combines classic rock sounds with elements from blues, independent and funk on their debut album.
However, the album Blank, which was recorded in 2019, could not be promoted due to the pandemic and with ON STAGE the band found an agency that supports the up-and-coming band to follow their path.
The band's range of playing skills is already evident in the first songs, which are all original compositions. Loud guitar riffs by Lars Gugler alternate with harmonious, melodic passages and choruses. Gian-Luca Paris on bass and Sascha von Struve on drums provide a compact rhythmic basis, as a trio should. In this way, Atrio succeeds in presenting straightforward and straightforward rock that does not need to be embellished with gimmicks.
It is interesting how the band describes itself musically in the instrumental opener "This Is Atrio". It moves from hard riffs to bluesy passages and is followed by ten more songs, of which the title song "Blank" shows that Atrio's style is in the direction of modern rock bands like Rival Sons and also includes elements of Southern Rock. Lars Gugler is absolutely convincing with his powerful voice.
In the somewhat quieter “Through The Desert”, Atrio's style moves towards the independent genre and there are certainly similarities to Audioslave. It is interesting how the band manages to create a rhythm at the beginning that could also be used to accompany film footage of a galloping horse.
In the short instrumental “Taste The Blue”, the Giessen band lets the listeners figuratively taste the blues, before turning directly into funky Southern Rock with “Can You Relate”, which once again proves the band’s playful range.
All other songs move stylistically in the spaces between the briefly mentioned pieces and show that there are also bands in Germany that have found the way from classic rock to modern blues-soaked hard rock, with a dash of independent.
It will be interesting to see how this trio, bursting with power, presents these songs live, which allow for the odd improvisation.
Line up:
Lars Gugler: guitar, vocals
Gian-Luca Paris: bass
Sascha von Struve: drums
Now available: the new album "Blank" .