lukretion The third album of Swedish sleaze/glam rockers Hardcore Superstar is a definite improvement over their previous records. The sound is much cleaner. The songwriting strikes a better balance between musicality and the raw party-animal spirit the band aims to convey with their music. Overall, this album comes across as a much more polished and professional affair relative to the previous records.

Despite the clear improvements, this is not an album I'd recommend outside the circle of hardcore aficionados of the Swedish sleaze/glam rock revival of the 1990s. It has a few decent rockers, with catchy choruses and good guitar work. Songs like "Not Dancing, Wanna Know Why?", the mellow ballad "Shame" and "Just Another Score" make for good car or party music. There's enough energy and melody in these tracks to entertain for a handful of minutes. But the album quickly loses steam, delving deeper and deeper into a rabbit hole made of dubious reggaetons ("Smoke'Em"), songs that leave the listener with a suspicious sense of deja-vu ("Wimpy Sister", play spot-the-difference with "Tom Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance"), mediocre rockers ("Do Me That Favour", That's My Life", "Riding with the King") and sappy ballads ("Dear Old Fame", "Mother's Love").

Overall, I'd say two-thirds of the material on this album is forgettable, and a good third borders on the annoying. It is a pity because on those three / four songs where things fall into place, Hardcore Superstar do manage to sound convincing and compelling. But there is just too much mediocre material here to rate this album higher than this.