Gasser, Luke The Judas Tree

The Judas Tree' is another testimony to the almost irrepressible creativity of the Swiss. In contrast to his latest album 'Mercy On Me', which is full of rousing rock hits, the artist, also known as an author and filmmaker, shows on his latest work both his contemplative side and that the hardness of the music does not necessarily depend on electric guitars and amplifiers. The Judas Tree is an album with acoustic guitars, but if you are expecting a ballad collection now, you are way off course. This record is more Rock'n'Roll than many other genre releases that claim this description, because rock music in its pure form is above all one thing: honest and handmade, traditional and profound.

On'The Judas Tree' Luke moves close to his musical roots; with expressive lyrics and rock in his heart he reflects his experiences of a turbulent last year, skilfully combining folky sounds with hard rock guitars and sometimes comes close to his influences like The Alarm, the earlier and middle Rolling Stones or in parts also Bob Dylan without giving himself as a copying epigone. It is above all this straightforward music that hits the heart like a bluntly honest statement, and which in its simple purity has more greatness, poetry and intensity than any sound effect. Sometimes loud, sometimes quieter, but always with body and soul.

With this album, Luke Gasser not only builds on his surprise success in 2013, on the English-language debut album Retribution; in a way, Luke Gasser even goes back to his beginnings as a Swiss dialect rocker, when he was even celebrated as "Alpen-Dylan" in the Swiss press in the mid-1990s. Only that the Swiss musician has put a fat portion of juicy rock'n'roll on top of'The Judas Tree'. With English lyrics this time and, of course, as usual, produced with flawless quality.