Trøndelag trio, Main Street Revival, are heavily influenced by 70s rock and Rival Sons. The band’s new album “Flying Leaves” feels like the sound of a band finally trusting its instincts, leaning hard into thick riffs and bluesy swagger. The trio from Levanger have arrived at this record with more confidence than they had on “Fortune and Fame”. The band itself describe the album as their “best material so far”, and here it actually rings true.
The album’s biggest strength is its sense of momentum, as it rarely sits still. There’s a restlessness that is present even on slower songs, driven by Julie Laupstad’s bass lines and the muscular drumming from Christian Almli. Mats Haugskott’s vocals, at times sounding like Jay Buchanan from Rival Sons, carry the record with a rough-edged charisma. The vocal highlight of the record is “Need Your Love”. Although the influences are apparent, Led Zeppelin, Rival Sons, and Black Sabbath, the band avoid sounding trapped by nostalgia. The record has a live, lived-in feel with dragging grooves, rather than sounding manufactured. Haugskott’s guitars snarl rather than shimmer. It is easy to imagine this band are a force of nature live. (They are having a release party in Levanger this Saturday – tickets here!)
Not every song lands perfectly. A few choruses lean too heavily on familiar blues-rock phrasing, but even when “Flying Leaves” drifts into well-worn territory, the conviction behind the performances keeps it engaging. The pacing of the album is well done, with intensity and space well balanced. In an era where rock music often feels self-conscious, “Flying Leaves” succeeds by being unapologetically straightforward. It doesn’t reinvent hard rock, and it never tries to. Instead, Main Street Revival focus on something that is arguably harder: making old sounds feel alive again. More often than not, they pull it off.
4/6 | Anne-Marie Forker
Release date: 26 May 2026