Finland’s role in the creation of the glam-metal genre is a significant one thanks to Hanoi Rocks, so maybe this Kuopio quartet have as much right as anyone to revive the genre’s fortunes.
They can also boast the essential elements of any successful hair-metal band: big barnets and even bigger crowd-pleasing tunes, not to mention a dubious approach to sexual politics. As such, it’s hard to wince too hard at Monster’s ‘Hunky babe with the plastic boobs and the poison in her skin… confident in her riding boots and behind the evil grin, beautiful like a bad tattoo, looking like a mortal sin.’
Some of their more flagrant attempts to make radio-friendly sing-alongs, however, may cloy on the palettes of less compromising rockheads. The synthy backing of Child Of The Sun is married to a Europop chorus, as if written for a certain continental song contest. Meanwhile, Scandinavian Girls could be covered by Aqua, given just a little extra pop squeak.
They hit harder on Bullettime’s GN’R snarl and Destiny’s Bon Joviesque chorus, and in truth, by the time we get to the rabble-rousing drinking song Let’s Get Cracking, we realise all this, as someone once sang, ain’t nothin’ but a good time. That’s what they’ll tell the taste police anyway.
