Artist: Poodles, The
Label: Lionheart Records
Release: 2007
Rating: 3.5/5
The Poodles, hugely popular back home in Sweden (commercially, too), are back with a new album after barely a year, their second. “Metal Will Stand Tall” (2006) was a top-notch debut that set the bar sky-high for its follow-up. On that first record The Poodles introduced themselves as a tight four-piece who know exactly what they want and what they can do, serving up an ultra-melodic blend of their sound and style that is nothing more than yet another take on hard rock, only this time leaning a bit more commercial, toward pop rock.
But its follow-up “Sweet Trade” catches you off guard right away. If you were expecting a new “Metal Will Stand Tall”, you got burned. The production is a lot heavier. Even the opening march Flesh And Blood is a surprise, since its arena-built stomp is damn rawer in production than anything on the debut. The first associations here go to Central European melodic hard rock a la Gotthard, Pink Cream 69, Fair Warning, Frontline…. Streets Of Fire confirms that direction right after. A pompous chorus on a monotonously plodding up-tempo march that could use a bit more backbone from the bass guitar. That’s the only minus on an otherwise excellent production. But there’s no stopping The Poodles! With a real knack for crafting polished melodies, the guys “slyly” and quickly redirect the listener’s attention, so you hardly bother with the “little things” across the record, because the pomp and the ultra-melodies get you hooked incredibly fast. Bombast and pomp are the big aces these guys play with total confidence. Production-wise, The Poodles are close to Brother Firetribe and Wig Wam (the songs Band Of Brothers, Seven Seas with its operatic, Queen-like playfulness, the ultra-pompous Heaven’s Closing In), only even heavier. They carry a touch of the cheekiness of the prematurely buried hard rock clowns The Darkness (the chorus of Thunderball), while the seeds of Bon Jovi’s glory days can be found in the closer, Shine. When it’s time to belt it out, singer Jakob Samuel, at the extremes of his vocal strain (e.g. the song Kiss Goodbye), sounds like a milder version of Axl Rose (Guns N’ Roses)
With their arena approach, The Poodles don’t let the listener catch a breath through the whole record. Either you’re with us or you’re not. They only know two options! The rhythms are dead simple, the riffs are crisp, but with a tremendous dynamic drive that sets off just the right adrenaline rush. Everything revolves around the vocals planted front and center, which can be seriously explosive in the rock-charged marches, polished in every register as he pulls the melody out of himself, or seductively erotic with a “bad boy” accent, which keeps him compelling especially in the “quieter” stretches where the riffing isn’t so much in the spotlight. The peaks of the songs are the bombastic choruses, which the guys build up even further with extra backing vocals and, of course, a curtain of keyboards (in the background). Reach The Sky is the ideal melodic earworm, born to be released as a single. The Poodles have moved away from the pop tricks of the debut, and what’s left of them on “Sweet Trade” is captured in the outstanding Without You. A mid-tempo rocker where the vocals take absolute primacy in shaping the melody, with a chorus of ideal melodic perfection. A track that’s cast flawlessly as a composition, with everything in it clicking perfectly.
Coming from the land of ABBA, it goes without saying that you’ve got songwriting in your blood, the kind of songs that burrow under your skin in an instant and lodge in your brain for good. And the special thing about this album is still that it grows even more when you hit “repeat” on the CD player a few times. The Poodles could have been an excellent pop rock band, too, but hard rock is booming, thanks to a reborn phalanx of young bands storming out of the north of the old continent. “Sweet Trade” is another superb new album from this hot young new-wave hard rock band, with equally strong songs, high quality, and a recognizable sound and style. It’s hard to say whether the album is better or worse than the debut. It’s different, equal in quality, and still 100% The Poodles.
Lineup
Jakob Samuel – vocals
Pontus Norgren – guitar
Pontus Edberg – bass guitar
Christian Lunqvist – drums
Production
Pontus Norgren & The Poodles
Track list
1. Flesh And Blood
2. Streets Of Fire
3. Seven Seas
4. Walk The Line
5. Thunderball
6. Reach The Sky
7. We Are One
8. Without You
9. Band Of Brothers
10. Heaven’s Closing In
11. Kiss Goodbye
12. Shine
Album length: 44.01
