Sharp Nine - Untimed (1995)

Well, for those of you who spent the '90s sucking the arse of what you called grunge, there were so many cool bands out there which were overlooked. Whilst I admit to being a fan of early Soundgarden, Mudhoney and those Sub-Pop days, 'grunge' as a label was nothing more than a collectuion of dire bands playing middle of the road rock. Sharp Nine were a relatively cool yet unknown band who somehow bridged a gap between Soundgarden, Sabbath and maybe even C.O.C. as shown on heavyweight tracks such as 'Unload' with its Sabbath-cum-Soundgarden groove and those wailing vocals circa Chris Cornell. Hard to belieev these guys were actually Swedish so in a sense quite removed from the Seattle scene, but they were clearly influenced by the grunge way, especially, as I've already said, Soundgarden. Thankfully, this is a pretty weighty record that displays a lot of angst, and whilst it doesn't do enough to put itself alongside the likes of My Sister's Machine, 'Untimed' is a fine, albeit unknown record that if it'd been a US band would probably have been massive. 'No Tiles Free' has a strong Alice In Chains influence, so it's fair to say that although Sharp Nine lack originality, this record gives me more than countless other so-called grunge acts. Nice try guys. 6/10