Year of the Rhinos is a pop underground release from Swedish natives
the Rhinos. From the first guitar pickings, one can tell that
the Rhinos have listened to all of their
Byrds records many times. "Stop the Time" has guitar tones that jangle along, while multi-layered vocals harmonize. As
the Rhinos push on, the reference to
the Byrds goes only so far as the picking and tones of the guitars are concerned. At
the Rhinos' best moments, they take some cues from
Teenage Fanclub's uniquely modern take on the '60s, making you want to bust out all of your
Teenage Fanclub records. "On Bus No. 9" is a bouncy pop tune that touches on an area that
the Rhinos could focus and fine-tune. Unfortunately,
Year of the Rhinos' midtempo picking gets to be a bit much for the length of the record, but hints at a direction that
the Rhinos could tighten up and make their own in future releases.