House of Shakira Sweden

"Slated as a melodic hard- rock band, Sweden's House of Shakira (don't worry - there is no relation to that awful pop singer) are considerably hard hitting.

Most tunes on the album are based around solid riffs (you know that right from the get go, from the initial bass line of the first track 'Brick Wall Falling'. True, there is a lot of melody on the release, which enters into AOR territory several times (and interestingly Andreas Novak sounds as "Trick of the Tail"-to-"Duke" era Phil Collins), and the Swedish rock quintet show that they are very good at writing catchy choruses. But there is also a metallic aspect to the release, and in several places do House of Shakira make use of elements strongly associated with the heavy metal music of the 80s (just check the rocker 'Midnight Hunger') - oh, yeah, and there are of course the obligatory ballads, which are not that bad, actually.

Not only are they good songwriters, they are also good musicians with the drums and bass being rock solid, while the guitar riffage is simple and effective and the guitar solos are blazing and feature shredding as well as feel.

The album is generally an uplifting one - you know the kind of music that makes you happy and makes you think of the bright and sunny days of summer (which is much needed in the cold winter time when the album is released).

(review originally posted at metalmusicarchives.com)"