As you all now first impressions are important.
I occasionally fall into the trap of “judging a book by its cover”.
The whole *Glam* [not a fan of the genre] image of The Poodles made me jump to conclusions.
I was wrong. DEAD wrong! Sometimes appearances can be deceiving.
The minute I pressed play I realised I was dealing with a classy Hard Rock quartet.
It’s hard to find any flaws really…
Musicianship?
They’re Swedes, I believe that answers the question 😛
Compositions?
Outstanding – A whole bunch of people contributed, including Melodic Rock’s finest Matti Alfonzetti/Johan Lyander (Bronco Music).
The names of Marcel Jacob [Talisman, Human Clay etc] and Jonas Reingold appear in the credits too.
That, on the other hand, could also be considered a con. Artists should rely on their own creativity, assigning others to do that part (IMHO, the MOST important one) strikes me as wrong.
And since the only member who got involved in the song-writing process was the singer, Jakob Samuel, the band loses a few points there.
Was that a manager/record label executive decision? [assigning composers/lyricists/producers/whoever to maximize the possibilities of success]
I don’t think so.
It seems to me guests and band mates have known each other for a long time. Most likely, they’re friends who were merely asked to pitch in.
In any case the outcome is excellent, no reason to keep bitching about it 😛

Favourite tracks:
#3 “Night of passion”
#4 “Song for you” [inviting tenor Jonas Samuelsson-Nerbe was a BRILLIANT idea, the song really takes off!]
#5 “Lie to me” [perhaps the catchiest tune]
#11 “Kingdom of Heaven”

Rating: 8 *Swedish Chefs/Börk, börk, börk* 😛 out of 10

Almost forgot:
I bought this from AOR Heaven online store for €7,50
[Unfortunately that offer no longer stands]
So, not only the price was good, I got the digipack edition [featuring 3 bonus tracks/2 videos] too 🙂

The Poodles at Wikipedia
“Metal will stand tall” at RateYourMusic
“Metal will stand tall” at Discogs

Record Label: AFM Records
Catalogue Number: AFM 155-9
UPC: 4046661051391
Label Code: LC 05204
Rights Society: GEMA [Germany]
Mastering SID Code: IFPI L554
Matrix/Runout: Sony DADC A0100769081-0101 24 A0
Mould SID Code: IFPI 94Y6

Tracklist:
01. Echoes from the past [4:11]
02. Metal will stand tall [3:21]
03. Night of passion [3:00]
04. Song for you [4:43]
05. Shadows [3:01]
06. Lie to me [3:34]
07. Rockstar [3:22]
08. Dancing with tears in my eyes [3:38]
09. Don’t give up on love [3:47]
10. Number one [3:14]
11. Kingdom of Heaven [3:12]
12. Crying [3:54]
Bonus tracks
13. Night of passion [Radio mix] [3:01]
14. Echoes from the past [Live from Sweden Rock 2006] [4:43]
15. Song for you [Live from Sweden Rock 2006] [6:34]
Videos
“Metal will stand tall”
“Song for you”
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
*Legal Disclaimer*

Re-ripped 06/08/2012

FLAC CD-rip nfo
Mirrors:
FLAC level 8 | v1.2.1 [Filecloud.io]
FLAC level 8 | v1.2.1 [Firedrive.com]
FLAC level 8 | v1.2.1 [Freeuploads.fr]
FLAC level 8 | v1.2.1 [Mega.co.nz]
FLAC level 8 | v1.2.1 [Netkups.com]
FLAC level 8 | v1.2.1 [Solidfiles.com] ✔ [31/05/2018]
FLAC level 8 | v1.2.1 [Uptobox.com]

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mp3 CD-rip nfo
Mirrors:
mp3 VBR V0 | LAME v3.98.4 [Filecloud.io]
mp3 VBR V0 | LAME v3.98.4 [Freeuploads.fr]
mp3 VBR V0 | LAME v3.98.4 [Mega.co.nz]
mp3 VBR V0 | LAME v3.98.4 [Solidfiles.com] ✔ [29/03/2013]
mp3 VBR V0 | LAME v3.98.4 [Zippyshare.com]

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