PICTURE - Old Dogs New Tricks
April 7, 2010, 14 years ago
(Marsmountains)
Bloody ‘ell, love how all these old acts not so obscure for us hoary metalheads in the mid ‘80s are coming back, miraculously with fully legitimate lineups (see Krokus). Well, Picture was a six record Dutch contingent that took a few records to get its sea legs, plus stumbled late, but nonetheless gave us a couple wallopers in Diamond Dreamer and Eternal Dark. Now they return and the sound is true, blue and tattooed, only conspicuously cheap of production, unfortunately. The production herein enclosed goes for the smoke-choked grit of Eternal Dark but lacks the expensive vibe that over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder sent out in solemn black waves. Fortunately the songs are grinding old school Eurometal of all speeds, along the lines of old Picture’s non-power metal persuasion, their plod and growl malevolent like that of Grave Digger and Accept, Pete Lovell’s voice passionate but desperate like David Coverdale auditioning for Oz or Torch or Axewitch or some damn thing. Ergo, Old Dogs New Tricks (no new tricks here, thankfully) finds the band zoning in smartly on the superlative Eternal Dark incarnation, even if there’s a little more universality and maturity of theme here. Fully two points docked (like Dokken) ‘cos of the battered drum production.
