Finnish label Lion Music upped the bar for itself with the recent release of Sun Caged's self-titled debut, one of the best prog-metal albums of the year. Now comes another scorcher. Dogpound's The Hellbum belies the redneck cover artwork and the band's Swedish origin, offering a big slice of American-sounding melodic hard rock. With chunky riffs, crisp vocals and dynamite harmonies straight out of the Eighties, Dogpound's feel-good songs seethe with a dark undercurrent. Tracks like "End of Our Days," "When the World Comes Down," "Going Down in Flames," "Loser on a King's Throne" and " … For My Sins" contain elements of fatalism or self-loathing. It's an odd juxtaposition, augmented by goofy line drawings of dogs inside the CD booklet. But it works for this quartet, even if the thin production drops the overall impact down a notch or two.
With outstanding recent releases by Sun Caged, Section A and now Dogpound, Lion – perhaps known best as an instrumental-guitar label – is proving that it's capable of seeking out quality bands with powerful vocalists, too. Here's hoping the trend continues …
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