The Gems- Year of the Snake

Albumreview by Jan Vranken

Shedding skin sounds more poetic than it actually is. In practice, it means pain, discomfort, and the nagging question of whether what emerges afterward is genuinely better. The Gems, the Swedish trio of vocalist Guernica Mancini, guitarist/bassist Mona “Demona” Lindgren, and drummer Emlee Johansson, knows that metaphor better than most. After leaving Thundermother, the three women rose from the ashes as The Gems with their debut ‘Phoenix’ (2024), on which the single ‘Like A Phoenix’ immediately hit number two on the German rock radio airplay charts. Barely two years later, their second album ‘Year of the Snake’ arrives. Transformation, renewal, wisdom, says the band. Sounds promising. Is it?

The answer is largely yes, though the album opens with deliberate restraint. Opener ‘Walls’ runs just over a minute and serves as a kind of cover letter: the time to change is now. Message delivered, neatly presented. Then the title track ‘Year of the Snake’ kicks the door open, and it becomes immediately clear that The Gems have more going on than your average hard rock outfit. Mancini’s voice is the kind that fills rooms without amplification, Lindgren’s riffs lock in like they were made for nothing else, and Johansson drives the whole thing forward with the confidence of someone who knows exactly where she’s headed. It is a song that lodges itself in your head on first listen and refuses to leave after twenty, which is precisely what a good title track should do.

A highlight is the collaboration on the third track ‘Gravity’, where Tommy Johansson (known from Sabaton and Majestica) joins Mancini for a duet. It is a smart move: the two voices complement each other without stealing the other’s shine, and the track demonstrates that The Gems are willing to stretch their sound without losing the core. ‘Diamond in the Rough’ and the previously released ‘Live and Let Go’ confirm that direction. This is hard rock with both a head and a heart.

Notably, the shift in tone compared to the debut is audible. Where ‘Phoenix’ was straight to the point, honoring the no-nonsense tradition of their former band, ‘Year of the Snake’ more frequently reaches for melodic rock. That is not a concession, but a logical step. ‘Clout Chaser’ has a chorus that invites unabashed singalongs, ‘Hot Bait’ draws obvious inspiration from Van Halen, with an opening riff that calls to mind the California classic ‘Runnin’ with the Devil’. Whether that is a deliberate tribute or a happy coincidence hardly matters: the track works.

That said, ‘Year of the Snake’ plays its strongest cards early. After ‘Forgive and Forget’, a track already somewhat less convincing than its predecessors, the album begins to lose a little altitude. ‘Go Along to Get Along’, ‘Math Ain’t Mathing’, and ‘Buckle Up’ are solid entries, but the spark that made the first half so compelling burns a degree less bright. These are not bad songs, but measured against the opener, the title track, and ‘Gravity’, they land a step lower. A more selective hand with the track listing would have made the album leaner.

The production by Johan Randen is clear and powerful without being polished to a sheen, which is exactly the right call for a band that runs on live energy. Thomas “Plec” Johansson’s mastering adds the necessary depth. The Gems sound like they are in the room with you, not like they were assembled by an algorithm.

At 14 tracks, ‘Year of the Snake’ is an ambitious statement. The Gems prove that their debut was no fluke, and that they are a genuine force in modern hard rock. Guernica Mancini simply has one of the best voices in the genre, and the trio possesses the kind of chemistry that cannot be manufactured. If they can sustain the consistency of the first half across an entire record on album three, there will be no one left who can afford to ignore them.

(7.5/10) (Napalm Records)