Second album of this Dutch band, just bears the title II (very original!), and
appears 6 years after their first, apparently after 3 years in the making.
When I saw the cover (quite cool I think) and a photo of the band, with the sort
of “western-look” to them, I immediately thought of bands like Brand New Sin and
our own (Danish, that is) Powderhog, who plays “dirty”, hard and bluesy
heavy/hard rock, that really kicks ass – I was really looking forward to hearing
this one.
The first immediate listen was also fairly ok; although I sort of missed
something I couldn’t quite put my finger on to begin with… Then after some more
listening it got more evident for me, that what I thought was going to be the
bark of a bulldog turned out to be more the squeals of a poodle….Too much
f***in’ keyboards and yelling-choruses, and I’m not exactly crazy about
rock-ballads a la Guns ’n’ Roses either...
Well, if you like the Darkness and an “easier” version of the Cult, this could
easily be your kind of thing. I like my stuff a little heavier and more “dirty”
– for me this was a bit of a disappointment, the band has the southern rock
sound to them, it just gets too nice and generally too smooth and too polished
for my taste.
The production is good and clear, everybody in the band does what they’re
supposed to in this kind of style, so technically everything is in order. – and
I’m sure they’re a good band for a party-like live performance.
…to win over the rock-radio stations they just need a kind of hit-track, an
ear-worm as they say in Germany, a riff you remember after album is over, and
there’s not an evident hit here to my ears. If that’s your goal; to reach the
masses, I wish you good luck with that, guys. I wish you’d get more raw and a
little more unpredictable (quit the keyboards and the weeping ballads fx.), but
that’s just my personal taste.
