Truckfighters – Masterflow
Release Date: 10th April 2026
Label: Fuzzorama Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Desert Rock, Stoner Rock.
FFO: Dozer, Lowrider, Queens of the Stone Age, Fu Manchu, Orange Goblin, Kyuss, Thulsa Doom, Greenleaf.
Review By: Magnus Rotås
The first car I ever bought in my life was a Swedish Saab 9-3 from the late 90s. I then burned a few CD’s to play in that car and on one of them I included Truckfighters “Desert cruiser”, not only because it’s a perfect song to cruise around to, but it was also a nice little reminder every time Oskar Cedermalm screamed “I’m running out of fuuuuel” to check if I needed to fill up on gas.
The two Swedish fuzz rockers Ozo (Oskar Cedermalm) and Dango (Niklas Källgren) that make up Truckfighters have been fighting trucks for more than two decades now, and they have been a band that I have loved for a long time. I honestly thought we might never get any more new material from them as it has been ten whole years since they released “V”. However, it takes just one note of Dango’s fuzzy guitar tone on opening track Old Big Eye to know that we are so back with this album!
Masterflow channels that classic Truckfighters vibe and roars with a dynamic, ever-shifting energy—gliding from bone-crushing riffs into wide-open, psychedelic stretches without missing a beat. The two first tracks Old Big Eye and The Bliss are straight up fuzz-rock bangers that harken back to “Gravity X”, but they sound even better now than ever before. The low-end hits like a landslide, while soaring melodies rise through the haze, striking a perfect balance between brute force and subtle groove. Every track lives and breathes, unfolding with purpose and grit, pulling you through a relentless, fuzz-drenched ride driven by sweat, soul, and pure rock ’n’ roll fire.
With the third track, Carver, the album takes a bit of a turn and integrates a lot more emotional melodies, very akin to their last two records and I love it. Dango’s guitar work has never been better than this, and the clean lead guitar parts are absolutely stellar when contrasted to the heavily fuzzed out guitar tones. They follow that up with Truce which is another beautiful track which builds and builds up to a climax where the drums go absolutely nuts.
“Philosophically, masterflow can symbolize the harmony between discipline, mastery and spontaneity. Flow.” says a spoken word part in the title track, which is placed as a mid-way interlude on the album. And I couldn’t have said it better myself, as the flow on this album is absolutely fantastic, bringing us right back to a straight rocker with the next song The Gorgon.
Ozo’s howling vocals are the best vocals I have heard from the band, period – I never thought I was gonna get as emotional as I did when listening to the bluesy track Gath. It’s a very different track, a stand-out one for sure! And that’s the genius behind this whole album, it does so many things different from song to song, but it always flows so nicely together so it never feels jarring when they go all bluesy for example. As much as I like their previous albums, they can suffer from “every song sounds kinda the same” syndrome. While with this album every track has a memorable riff and its own unique identity.
Bad Horse might be the track I would drop if I had to drop one from the album, it’s not bad by any means, but it doesn’t add anything to the album as a whole, even though the riff is pretty cool. The album closes with Goin’ Home which is a really nice closer. Part of me thinks they missed the opportunity for Ozo to sing “I’m goin’ hoooooooome” but practically speaking I guess I don’t need a track to remind me of that. It definitely leaves me wanting more, and I hope we don’t have to wait ten years before we see another album from these guys since they are on the top of their game with this release and this might be their strongest material yet.
All in all Masterflow is fuzz-rock with a lot of heart and enough brains to make it interesting and special the whole way through. It gets better with every spin and I keep picking up on nuances in the music I have not noticed before every time I spin it.
Saab as a car brand might not exist anymore and Volvo has been bought by the Chinese, but Truckfighters still live on! So turn that volume knob all the way up so you can no longer hear the bad sounds coming from your engine, ignore all the flashing lights on the dash and let Masterflow take you along on a ride of fuzz without any worries.
(4.5 / 5)
