I'm trying
to picture the target group for this release. It's not really a pretty sight.
This is a bunch of guys, they're about my age, perhaps a little bit younger.
They were teenagers during the Nineties and they liked Metallica, Iron Maiden
and of course Europe. They still like a bit of hard music every now and then
when the wife and the kids are out and especially if they get together with
their old buddies and have a couple of beers.
On this particular evening, one of them has bought a CD called 'Swedish Hitz
Goes Metal'. 'Guys, guys, listen to this, this is bloody awesome!' he exclaims.
And out of
the loudspeakers bellow the sounds of the Swedish hits from the early to
mid-Nineties that they were forced to listen to every weekend because the girls
they wanted to score listened to it at the local disco - and, really, they
didn't mind it, because the songs were catchy as hell. And ABBA...I mean, who
doesn't like ABBA! This was something they never admitted in the face of their
mates, naturally.
These hardrock and proggy metal versions go right in. The old buddies silently
accept that they always liked these songs and just give in. They bang their
heads even if they know that their necks will complain tomorrow and there isn't
too much hair flying in the air anymore.
Sad, innit?
Well, yeah, in a way. But at the same time, it's a fun idea and I can see quite
a few semi-old geezers like myself enjoying this.
The next question is whether I enjoy it. To be honest, I'm not so sure. I like
much of the original songs because they're really good pop songs. If I were to
pick one song that should sell this album, I'd probably pick Roxette's
The Look. It functions very well (apart from the terrible spoken part that
sounds like a caricature of a Japanese tourist). Aces of Base's The Sign has a
bit of magic too, that converts well into metaldom.
You might find it surprising, but the ABBA tunes are actually the ones that
offer the biggest challenge for the Swedish combo behind this effort. Super
Trouper is plain uninteresting in this version, and the same can be said of The
Winner Takes it All. Summer Night City translates better, because it from the
outset has a heavier structure. Lay All Your Love on Me also works sort-of
alright, but it's not amazing.
I appreciate the attempt, but in the end, I probably won't be pulling this one
out of the mp3 archive when my mates come over. Judge for yourself - you might
enjoy this after a beer or two.
