The Swedish duo plays an album launch show at Hackney’s Oslo.

Johnossi released their self tilted debut album in 2005. Now, after twelve years, they return with their fifth full-length, Blood Jungle.

Despite choosing London city for a host of their big party on Wednesday night, Oslo in Hackney welcomes a lot Scandinavian guests. After all, the Stockholm based duo has had several platinum selling albums and singles in Sweden and won various awards including a Swedish Grammy Award for ”Best Group”. Now they are stepping out of their native stage.

“We’re releasing new album on Friday. I don’t expect you to buy it but I expect you to listen to it”, vocalist John Engelbert gives a confident statement as the band commences with presenting new material. Blood Jungle tracks dominate tonight’s set but they are being diminished by old tunes the fans were waiting for.

Johnossi have an enormous potential of creating powerful rock and roll hooks with drumming patterns that seem to never stop. However, all that gets lost along the way when translated into live format. The song arrangements blend vastly and melodies arrive with a monotonous tone, all making the whole set fall a tad flat.

The thrilling Air Is Free is a hard-hitting tune but yet again, it looses its charm while performed live, whilst Weak Spots fails in attempt to cause bigger movement amongst the audience.

However, the dynamics on stage between both musicians seem to patch the whole set together. “How are you? You look great”, Engelbert starts a conversation with drummer Oskar “Ossi” Bonde, shortly followed by “You look sexy” from the crowd. This seems like a great opportunity to engage more with their fans, yet it goes unnoticed.

A couple of tracks that catch my attention are What’s The Point, taken from 2017’s Transitions, which finally leaves more space for a sing-a-long and Hands, which actually see a few hands waving in the air. “Are you having a good time? Can I please get a beer?”, the singer asks but the reception fades away very quickly.

The acoustic Summerbreeze (Johnossi 2005) slows down the pace and changes the mood completely, but in a good way. It is the only low-tempo song in tonight’s repertoire, and clearly a standout moment of the entire performance.

Rounding off with Roscoe musicians allow themselves a little bit of craziness, more headbanging and jumping on the drum kit, and you just wish that had happened much earlier. Musically and vocally Johnossi deliver on-point, despite a few technical issues on stage, but overall you would just expect more from a live experience.