Power of Metal.dk Review

Dalton
Pit Stop
Rating
Style: Hard Rock
Release date: 17 October , 2014
Playing time: 45:03
 


The re-union flood of 80's hard rocking band seems to be infinite. It's time to dust off the nice Swedish band Dalton. Together with Europe and Treat, Dalton were for some years in the late 80s, one of the big hard rock band to be reckoned with in Sweden. The band, founded by Treat drummer Mats Dahlberg and named after his nickname Dalton. They put all their cards on the prevailing trend in the melodic hard rock and went 'all in' with both image - specially made stage clothes - and contagious light metal with light-hearted choruses. The amount of hairspray backstage before a gig averaged nearly a year's supply of the common man. Even Bon Jovi and Michael Bolton released exclusively original songs to the Swedish quartet, and the wheels began to roll, but in the early nineties grunge rock resulted in the death of several bands from the 80's and Dalton split up. They managed to release two albums 'The Race Is On' and 'Injection'. After the separation, Mats put all his energy on the short-lived project, Speedy Gonzales, together with the now world-renowned guitarist Tommy Denander and Therion's vocalist Thomas Vikström, but the project did not survive the grunge era.

Now, after an eon of time, these poodle rockers are back. Moreover, they have been wise enough to hire one of the genre's best producers; Erik Mårtensson, the mastermind behind WET and Eclipse. It steams of the good old 80's rock in the strong opening track 'Ready Or Not' and Bo Lindmark's voice has aged well like fine wine. It's grainy and rougher than before and he sounds like the big voice Biff Buford in Saxon. This is a comeback with a big C in the front. All you Death/Thrash metal fans may not appreciate this, but fans melodic hard rock of the 80's style will adore it.

Dalton has easy-listening choruses and catchy guitar riffs as their trademarks. Mats, Ola and Anders handle the keys and rhythm section perfectly and creates a solid foundation for Leif and Bo. They pile up the radio friendly songs, one after the other and my favourite tunes are: 'Ready Or Not', the smooth 'Don't Tell Me Lies', the big party track 'Up & Down', groovy song 'Bad Love' and catchy '50/50'. I believe that they have put much effort in the song writing and the freshness in the tracks are very appealing to me. Dalton doesn't seem to have any problems with the members age and I hope that Frontiers Records will continue to support this Swedish band on their way back to the charts. I have to mention the cocky and cool closing track TGIF (Thank God Its Friday), which is one of all nice party songs on 'Pit Stop'.

All eleven songs are packed in a flawless production by Erik Mårtensson. I really hope to see Dalton on a big stage next year. Maybe on one of Sweden Rock Festival's scenes next summer? You read it here first... Thanks for the ride guys!

DALTON:
Bo Lindmark - lead vocals
Mats Dahlberg - drums, backing vocals
Anders Lindmark - bass, backing vocals
Leif Westfahl - lead guitar, backing vocals
Ola Lindström - keyboards, backing vocals


Tracklist
01. Ready Or Not
02.
Hey You
03.
Don't Tell Me Lies
04.
Follow Your Dreams
05.
Up & Down
06.
Bad Love
07.
One Voice
08.
Here We Are
09.
Something For The Pain
10.
50/50
11. TGIF
Label: Frontiers Records
Distribution: Target (Denmark)
Artwork rating: 82/100
Reviewed by: Patrik Skoglund
Date: 13 October, 2014
Website: www.facebook.com/DaltonSweden