The Poodles is a Swedish band that is very famous in its own country. The debut album Metal Will Stand Tall will be released on January, 19th 2007. In Sweden this album has been released in May 2006 and has been very successful. The line-up of the band is Pontus Norgren on guitar, Kicken on drums, Pontus Egberg on bass guitar and Jakob Samuelsson on vocals. Their mission is to spread metal all over the world, beginning in Sweden, their old country.

The music can be described best as a mix of American hard rock bands like Poison and the bit rougher Guns & Roses. Especially the (rough) voice of Samelsson and the great solos of Norgren are the main attractive elements of The Poodles. In Sweden the band has achieved great success already with ‘Metal Will Stand Tall Rock’, the singles ‘One Night Of Passion’ (sold platinum in Sweden), and the title track of the album. These songs have great melodies, groovy riffs and superb guitar solos; both songs will stick in your memory once you’ve heard them. Also their third single, ‘Song For You’, strikes gold which is totally deserved! It contains all the elements that a superb song should have; the Swedish tenor Jonas Samuelsson-Nerbe adds a special dimension to the song that ends with a great guitar solo of Norgren.

Absolutely superb.

To be honest, these songs are the best parts of the album, especially the semi-ballad ‘Song For You’. The other songs on the Metal Will Stand Tall album vary from average hard rock songs (‘Lie To Me’, ‘Don’t Give Up On Love’) to quite boring rock songs (‘Shadows’). The absolute lowest point is the Ultravox cover ‘Dancing With Tears In My Eyes’ – please don’t do this again. The original Utravox execution is much better; it was a relief to hear their version again.

From my point of view The Poodles should be given a chance, especially because of the singer and guitar player. The band is a rock band that might become great if they will write more songs like ‘Metal Will Stand Tall Rock’, ‘One Night Of Passion’ and ‘Song For You’; future will tell.