DOGPOUND – A Night In The Gutter

Talk about being misled. Seeing a name like Dogpound and taking glimpse of their debut CD’s “The boyz in the hood, don’t tread on my graffiti” type of cover you’d think that these guys would either be seriously funky or a rappers delight. Seeing the cover of their most recent offering A Night In The Gutter with the polished suits look, you’d be thinking Funky is the name of the game. How wrong could you be?

Right from the get-go, Dogpound takes you in and makes you feel like you own the world. That is if you’re into Hard Rock, killer hooks, and gorgeous harmonies. You know that feeling when everything is going your way and you’re riding high and just can’t stop humming to yourself? Well, listening to the Swedes from Dogpound is like taking a ride on that particular wave.

The closest comparison that comes to mind is that Dogpound is a bit like Firehouse (remember them?) without the cheesy parts. Dogpound does have a quirky sense of humor like the songs “Captain Hook & Jesus” and “Not By Choice,” in which Hea sings about wanting to be a superhero … revealing, but it’s more in the vein of inside jokes that they’re including the listener in rather than excluding anyone. Dogpound is like that person all of us knows who is just too darn happy all the time. Instead of getting annoyed, you’ll soon surprisingly find out that some of that good cheer has rubbed off on you in the form of uplifting melodies and irresistible choruses.

Dogpound’s thing seems to be mixing occasional tongue-in-cheek themes with darker tones. They are more at home with the fast-tempo rockers like “Captain Hook,” definite album highlights “5 Seconds Away” and “P.P.F.,” where the guitarist keeps running circles around your ears. The guitar work on this whole album is seamless. It’s like you don’t even notice the guitar until the solo comes up, but it’s not coming on with high beams, it just effortlessly keeps resurfacing where it’s supposed to and you find yourself hard-pressed not to play air guitar alongside the music.

Dogpound wisely adds more color to their collection of infectious fast-tempo delights by spicing them up … for example, there’s a flute in the acoustic ballad “Worries of Yesterday,” and they occasionally go for a darker sound like during “Inside Of You, Loaded My Guns.” Whatever they choose to spice their sound up, the essential heart and soul of each song still revolves around those rich, inescapable melodies (not counting that album-ending, Punkish, half-a-minute, scream-along that sounds like the work of over exhausted kids).

Apparently there is no justice in this world since “5 Seconds Away,” “Not By Choice,” and especially “Dreamworld” all scream for the change to bust daytime radio wide open, but most likely will never even be given a change to do so. Don’t let that rob you of the chance to hear one of the most captivating and uplifting pieces of Hard Rock in recent years. You know what to do.