Badge was put together by guitarist/singer Matti Norlin and drummer Fredrik Haake in 2002. Matti´s love for Pre-War Blues and both their ambition to create new and exciting music is the drive, and the line-up for their third album is completed with bassist Lennart "Z" Zethzon. The band has been making quite a name for themselves in their native Sweden: in 2013, they were selected to represent Sweden in the European Blues Challenge, the following year Matti and Fredrik received a composer-scholarship from SKAP (Swedish Society of song-writers) for their music while in 2015 the first advance single from the album, "Reap What You Sow", was picked by Swedish national radio as one of the top 30 songs of Rock in 2015. I’m not sure why it has taken so long for this album to be finally made available if it was being promoted two years ago, but it is finally being released on 28th July.
From start to end this is an unusual album to listen to, as they are mixing acoustic blues styles in a more modern groove, and the guitars are slipping and sliding all over the place. I am sure that Matti is a fan of Lightnin’ Hopkins, as some of his playing is quite similar, with guitar chords being far less precise and textbook than one normally hears these days. There is a steel guitar being thrown into the mix as well, all of which provides a unique sound. “In The Eye of a Storm” is the closest they get to pure blues, but all of the album is a delight. This is raw and gritty, music with swagger and depth, with a huge dose of reality. All the guys have made their name in other outfits, but they keep returning to this project from a sheer love of the style of music, and it shows.
