When singer/guitarist John Engelbert and drummer Oskar "Ossi" Bonde formed Johnossi in their native Stockholm, Sweden in 2004, the duo played only four gigs before signing with a local label and recording a debut album. Although Engelbert played an acoustic guitar exclusively, his arsenal of effects and overdriven amplifiers put Johnossi in the same stylistic ballpark as other guitar-and-drum duos like the Black Keys, White Stripes, and Mr. Airplane Man.nn A successful tour with the Soundtrack of Our Lives and critical acclaim for Johnossi's 2006 debut brought the duo to the attention of the Control Group, which reissued the album in America during the fall of 2007. Johnossi supported the release with an American tour alongside the Shout Out Louds. Returning home, Engelbert and Bonde retreated to a studio in the outskirts of Stockholm to record All They Ever Wanted in eight days. The album was released in 2008, displaying the band's growth as a fierce, aggressive rock act. The self-produced Mavericks followed two years later. A bit of a recording hiatus followed before Johnossi returned in 2014 with the epic Transitions which, like Mavericks, reached the Top Ten in Sweden. With a global audience set clearly in their sights, the platinum-selling duo sought an even bolder sound with their fifth album, Blood Jungle, which arrived in early 2017. ~ Stewart Mason