By absorbing the best elements of distinctly American bands like Pearl Jam, The Black Crowes, Cheap Trick, Aerosmith and even Alice Cooper, the five Canadians calling themselves the Trews have made a quintessential American hard-rock album. Den of Thieves is the band's second record but first U.S. release. And having a producer like Jack Douglass (who, no surprise, has worked with three of the aforementioned artists) at the helm certainly helps make this disc all it can be. But listening to Den of Thieves, you get the feeling that these guys would have made a soulful powerhouse-rock album like this sooner or later, anyway.
Nearly every track here is noteworthy — a rarity these days on 15-song, 57-minute discs – but highlights include the optimistic "Makin' Sunshine," the boogie rock of "Cry," the can't-get-it-out-of-your head single "So She's Leaving," the big-chorus kiss-off that is "Tired of Waiting" and "The Traveling Kind" sing-along. Through it all, vocalist Colin MacDonald wails in a voice blessed with crisp diction and pure emotion. He and the rest of the band sound hungry and thoroughly invested in this music — another rarity these days among young bands — and you can't help but root for 'em.
This is a classic windows-down, summertime record that dares to make you feel good, and it took me by complete surprise. It is now my duty as a music journalist to tell the world about rock's newest Canadian sensation. Welcome to America, boys!
Track Listing:
1) Fire Up Ahead
2) Makin' Sunshine
3) Cry
4) Sweetness
5) I Can't Say
6) So She's Leaving
7) Yearning
8) Tired of Waiting
9) Pool Ol Broken Hearted Me
10) Ana & Mia
11) Naked
12) Montebello Park
13) Got Myself to Blame
14) The Traveling Kind
15) Ishmael & Maggie
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