The Swedes certainly know how to write a good melodic rock song. Despite their name The Poodles have one helluva bark and bite! Their sixth album gets off to a thunderous start with the glam metal anthem Live Before I Die. House Of Cards and Crack In The Wall boast some great riffs and soloing from Henrik Bergqvist, along with a killer pop chorus.
Throughout the album Jakob Samuel's vocals are a perfect symbiosis of rock and pop – An example of this is (What the Hell) Baby which has a groove far to catchy to be a rock song! The influences of Dio, Whitesnake, Sabbath and Zeppelin are apparent, especially with the Kashmir inspired riff on Need To Believe, which is another awesome melodic rock track. If I'm going to be a devil about the details (ha ha), the albums weaker tracks (Alive and Stop being examples.) are a touch too samey and predictable – but none the less catchy. Aside from that, this is Euro Rock at its best, you'll be humming them for days whether you like it or not!