As you listen to '
Learning To Rock', you can almost hear Finnish youngsters Sturm Und Drang accelerating up the learning curve and launching into orbit around planet rock. Fast learners indeed.
This material is what you might expect from an established rock band, with shades and echoes of bands like The
Scorpions and
Stratovarius coming through loud and clear. When you learn they are still all in their early teens, it is impressive stuff indeed.
Yes, it gets a little bit samey at times, and we could have done with the guitars further up in the mix in places. But there's otherwise a real adult resonance to tracks like the balladic
'Indian' and the lyrically astute
'Talking To Silence' - a song that also nods its head to
Led Zeppelin and AC/DC.
Mats 'MP' Persson has loaned his not inconsiderable writing creativity and skill to most of these songs, and the occasional pop inflected chorus is a reminder of Persson's collaborations with Per (Roxette) Gessle. On the one hand this adds genuine melodic weight to the album, on the other it leans the material toward the lighter end of the hard rock spectrum.
Standout tracks like
'Fly Away' and
'Rising Son' (the first single) share cleverly crafted riffs, razor sharp hooks and punchy harmonies on the chorus. They sweep you up in a tidal wave of ebullient, irrepressibly catchy pop metal. Witness the tuneful sonic wallop of
'Forever' and
'Broken' and the exotic flurries of guitar hero axe soloing that illuminate the songs like flashes of lightning.
S&D have clearly absorbed the rock and metal music that surrounded them in their earlier years, but they've also borne witness to the crossover opportunities that arise when you lay down a good tune and cut away the extremes.
One to watch. Unequivocally.
Written by
Brian Tuesday, June 12, 2007
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