THE POODLES: Sweet Trade (A.O.R.): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Composed of former members of bands such as Talisman, Midnight Sun, Lion's Share and others, The Poodles present themselves as an experienced band. And it is true that these Swedes master perfectly their subject by proposing us a cocktail oscillating between Hard FM, Glam, and Aor of a very high level.

Everything is gathered to make this album a huge commercial success that would be deserved. The production is powerful and dynamic and the choruses will haunt you for hours after listening to these 12 tracks. The guest list is prestigious with Goran Edman, Mats Leven and Matti Alfonzetti who also co-produces the album with Johan Lyander. Finally, the musicians form a group of a homogeneity at the highest level, putting their technique without fault at the service of the compositions to insufflate to these last ones the effectiveness or the emotion necessary at the best moment. Jakob Samuel knows perfectly how to modulate his warm voice and to be delicate when necessary as on the superb final mid-tempo 'Shine'. Don't look for a vocal demonstration like Paul Sabu, even if he knows how to show his power when it is necessary. The same goes for Pontus Norgren's solos. It is obvious that the technique is there (the solo of 'Kiss Goodbye' is the proof), but each intervention is done in the interest of the song and not with the aim of showing a useless speed of execution. Even Christian Lundqvist's playing behind his drums is the perfect illustration of this general state of mind. From a heavy and tribal strike on the opening track 'Flesh And Bones' to the fine and discreet playing of 'Shine', he shows a variety of playing always put at the service of the compositions.

Let's come to the latter and to the jubilant first 6 tracks. Impossible to catch your breath between the short folk intro of 'Flesh And Bones' and the power-ballad 'We Are One' placed in seventh position. While keeping their own identity, all these tracks are placed on an equivalent model based on basic and effective structures, memorable choruses and use of federative and dynamic choirs. And whether it's 'Streets Of Fire' with its Nightwish-like riff, 'Walk The Line' with its soundtrack-like intro and breaks or 'Reach For The Sky' with its talk-box, it's difficult, if not impossible, to resist this dynamic and positive whirlwind. The power-ballad typically Scandinavian Aor 'We Are One' and the pop-Aor 'Without You' calm down a little bit to allow us to catch our breath before a second salvo of three tracks taking back the same bases as before to finish us with punchy riffs and choruses with a formidable efficiency. And it would be necessary to be a superman to resist the choruses of 'Heavens Closing In' or 'Kiss Goodbye'. It is the mid-tempo 'Shine' which comes to close this festival to allow us to land gently while a single desire obsesses us: to relaunch the album right away.

It is thus a reference of the genre that we have to deal with and it is likely that the title of FM album of the year 2007 will not be far for this "Sweet Trade" that all the amateurs of this style waited for a long time. Let's hope now that the commercial success will be up to it, because it would be deserved and it can't hurt to see an album stamped Hard-Rock ranked in the charts from time to time. - Official website

THE POODLES

SWEET TRADE

AFM RECORDS

A.O.R.