Ten tracks from this Swedish band and, not having the slightest clue about who or what they were, I plopped the disc in the player and cranked the stereo up to 10 - to my suprise out fell some mighty fine tunes. 'Hello, Hello, Hello' came out of the blocks like a Supersucker or old school punker jamming with Angus and the boys on the breakdown rather than the policeman I was expecting; ello ello ello indeed.

A well recorded album with plenty of punch from the band, mixing up some early 70's rock like the MC5 with late 70's DC riffs and a fair bit of attitude all wrapped up in some pretty decent songwriting. The look and name of the band offers no clue as to their direction or sound but these bad boys rock it up with the best of them. 'Lady Pink' sees them break it down via a funk o metal carpet ride and very comfortable it is too. Not to get lulled into a false sense of security 'Slave To Love' kicks the living shit out of me speakers - this is good people, damn good in fact. 'Good Dog Gone Bad' sails pretty close to 'Powerage' acca dukka but that's fine because 'Powerage' was a great record and the singer sounds like Astbury did when The Cult went DC.

This album offers variety and contrast - Side B opens up with the nice countrified 'Sugar Lou' with a shared lead vocal. The swings in styles on the album aren't at all out of place and the variety is a nice balance rather than ten shit kicking anthems or ten laid back odes to the lady or the bottle. 'Mobile Lifestyle' sees the band chuck out a Stonesy riff and shuffle a la 'Honky Tonk Woman' which is cool.

So, in summary, this album took me by suprise and is a great introduction to the Chillihounds' world of rock 'n' roll....and a great place to be it is too. 'Night Time Is The Right Time' and 'Oh Yeah Oh Yeah' kick out the jams to bring this cd to the fitting finale of 'thank you and good night' and, as the acoustic guitar rings out for the last time, I hope to hear some more from this band and it isn't really goodnight. 

Good effort Chillihounds - I like the cut of your jib. Horns up dudes! \m/

www.myspace.com/chillihounds