Diamond Dogs hail from Sweden and play in a Classic Rock bar-band style with a heavy influence from early 70’s Glam, Sleaze and Garage. Before you even listen to the CD itself this is very much in evidence from the cover design and the bands image. Than, as soon as lead singer Sulo Karlsson opens his mouth and starts to sing you realise he could well be the lovechild of Ian Hunter and Suzi Quatro.  

They have already toured with the likes of Hanoi Rocks and Dogs D’Amour and fans of these bands, aswell as The Quireboys, will find much of interest here. Equally, if any of the names I have mentioned so far have you running for cover then this is probably not one for you to spend your hard earned cash on. ‘Up The Rock’ has twelve songs (none of which break the three and a half minute mark) that are packed full of great riffs, great choruses and are a hell of a lot of fun to listen to. 

Lead track and first single ‘Generation Upstart’ kicks off with some honky tonk piano from Henrik Widen (‘The Duke of Honk’) and when Sulo’s voice gets going it is 1973 all over again. ‘Down In The Alley’ gives sax played Magic a chance to shine and has some dreamy female backing vocals that reminds me of Mott’s classic anthem ‘Roll Away The Stone’, but the two real stand-out tracks for me are the brilliantly titled ‘Turning A Shack Into A Chapel’ and the wistful ballad ‘Where Are You Tonight?’. The former includes one of many great sing-a-long choruses from Sulo (“And if you push I will fall, Only you can make it happen, And if you rock I will roll, Turning A Shack Into A Chapel..”) whilst the latter finds him yearning for days gone by and lost youth (“Where are you tonight?, Can you still feel the thunder, like when we were younger”). 

Just as long as you are not expecting cutting edge stuff and are looking to enjoy a nostalgic evening then you simply must check out Diamond Dogs. And so finally, a big plea to Cargo Records & Smilodon – get this band over to the UK for some gigs ASAP. ‘Up The Rock’ is available from September 25^th. Next time you are invited to a party remember to take a copy with you.

Let Us Know Your Views On 'Up The Rocks'

Track List

Generation Upstart
We May Not Have Tomorrow
Down In The Alley Again
Acting Singles
Turning A Shack Into A Chapel
Where Are You Tonight
Closest I Ever Been To Memphis
You Got Nothing On Me
Come Easy Come Slow
Put Your Hands Together
If I Ever Fall In Love With You
Make It To The Shore

Line Up

Sulo - Vocals
Fredrik Fagerland - GUitars
Johan Johansson - Bass
Henrik Widen - Keys
Jesper Karlsson - Drums
Mats Gunnarsson - Sax