Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Poodles, The
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2013
Running time: 54:45
Rating: 4/5
The Poodles, another act that’s great at fusing heavy metal and hard rock, with an occasional but »painless« dash of glam sleaze, are back with their fifth studio album, »Tour De Force«. When it comes to reviving the melodic rock principle, The Poodles are considered one of the more recognizable Scandinavian bands of our time. Their style is closer to what bands like Treat, TNT, Eclipse, Talisman, Gottthard, Pretty Maids and Pink Cream 69 have been developing (each in their own way) or used to develop – the melodic haul is so strong and so pronounced in the pompous department that you can draw parallels with older bands like Lionsheart, then Leatherwolf, and the early House Of Lords; even Schenker’s stint with Robin McAauley (McAuley Schenker Group) popped into my head. With modern production, of course, shoving the guitar riffs firmly up front.
The lineup stays committed to the musical direction of the excellent predecessor »Performcracy« (2011), and producer Mats Valentin is still behind the console – the band clearly clicks with him. »Tour De Force« therefore keeps all of the band’s essential trademarks. What’s more, it’s proof that the band is maturing artistically. On it, The Poodles expand and spotlight that superior knack of theirs for full-blooded plasma of melody that gets under your skin on the very first listen. And that’s exactly what a band with this kind of genre orientation needs first and foremost to compete on the world’s stages in 2013, when melodic rock has mostly been pushed aside by the vampire corporations and so keeps itself alive in the »underground«. Luckily, traditionally loyal Scandinavia together with Japan makes a big enough market for revivalists like The Poodles to survive. The fact that The Poodles know what they want and know how to deliver is proved by the album’s extra track En För Alla För En, which the band recorded as the official hockey anthem for the Swedish national hockey team – the world hockey championship kicks off in Stockholm in May 2013. A track like that shows that the Swedes, as a nation, are traditionally devoted to the healthy heritage of hard rock (from their first bands in the eighties – Europe, 220Volt, Renegade, Treat, etc… onwards). Can you imagine the Slovenian hockey team getting an anthem like that? It’s not hard to imagine, but reality is of course different. We’d gladly grant them something in the style of En För Alla För En, wouldn’t we, my dear rockers (those of you who are still »alive«)?
Sound-wise, The Poodles are damn wound up. The guitar forms an incredible, massive wall of riffs, successfully pierced by the fantastic, centrally placed vocals of singer Jakob Samuelsson. He remains insanely passionate in his emotion. Another excellent performance from this truly brilliant Swedish vocalist, with a broad, well-developed vocal range, an authoritative stance and exceptional explosiveness. The band is hunting hits. Going Down is a typical banger that follows the template of I Want It All from the previous record. Additional programmed keyboard patterns chase the modern production trend in European-flavored melodic rock, which the recent studio albums of the legendary Danish hard rockers Pretty Maids have also nailed in recent years. The bombastic atmosphere is always optimized into toxically catchy chorus melodies. Craftily shaped into an atmospheric peak. Just as the modern notion of the melodic rock principle demands.
Leaving Past To Pass is the expected ballad in the middle of the album, bringing nothing special. It sticks to the band’s predictable musical approach. You know how it goes. A ballad is an integral part of almost every melodic rock album, of any melodic rock band. Otherwise, in the whole ultra-pompous sphere of production theater, The Poodles can also be a very positive band, one with real teeth that generates positive energy.
There are definitely too many songs for the album to stay consistent, even though with Swedish perfectionism that’s entirely achievable too. Still, I’d offer the band a humble piece of advice: don’t fire off all your ammo at once, and better not to go beyond ten tracks per album. Because of the genre’s genericness, since in melodic rock today you can’t expect anything other than a more or less successful reheating of old soup. With all due respect to the band’s »rock grit«.
If Shut Up draws from the sped-up Raiubow Man on a Silver Mountain riff, with the ultramelodic leveling of fashionably polished production like today’s Pretty Maids sound, then tracks like the distinctly dark Viva Democracy and/or Kings & Fools are stomping marches that Crash Diet could easily borrow for one of their albums. In Miracle, the combination of a cowbell in the rhythmic figure and a talk box run through the guitar recalls the Gotthard phase of the album »Lipservice« (2005). There are plenty of possible parallels on »Tour De Force«, hence the advice to the band not to dose out albums with too many songs.
»Tour De Force« is another excellent studio achievement from the band. Top-notch equipped from head to toe. In terms of production and in terms of the full-blooded use of dosing out compositions with infectious melodic figures. Melodic rock is so crowded today that it’s impossible to review an album from this genre without running into a whole heap of parallels with other bands that are typical representatives of the genre, or have in some way influenced its development through their work. »Tour De Force« cements The Poodles’ hugely respected position on today’s rock scene. The Poodles enjoy immense popularity in Scandinavia, and the new album has a bunch of tracks that will easily take on the role of the album’s lead singles (Shut Up, Happily Ever After, Kings And Fools and Going Down) and so help it climb to an enviably high spot on the world’s music charts. »Tour De Force« is exactly what the band’s fans demand and exactly what the band wants to deliver to the stage. Another damn good The Poodles album that doesn’t surprise on substance but keeps the band’s musical focus and determination razor sharp!
Lineup
Jakob Samuelsson – vocals
Henrik Bergqvist – guitar
Pontus Egberg – bass
Christian Lundqvist – drums
Production
Mats Valentin
Track list
1. Misery Loves Company
2. Shut Up!
3. Happily Ever After
4. Viva Democracy
5. Going Down
6. Leaving The Past To Pass
7. 40 Days And 40 Nights
8. Kings & Fools
9. Miracle
10. Godspeed
11. Now Is The Time
12. Only Just Begun
13, En För Alla För En*
*… bonus track available only on the physical edition of the album
