{"id":22574,"date":"2014-10-17T00:00:25","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T00:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=22574"},"modified":"2014-12-09T11:53:47","modified_gmt":"2014-12-09T11:53:47","slug":"album-review-dalton-pit-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-dalton-pit-stop\/","title":{"rendered":"DALTON – Pit Stop (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

DALTON
Pit Stop<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nFrontiers (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s been a 20-year break for Swedish rockers Dalton, so I guess there\u2019s no time like the present to return.<\/p>\n

With AOR, hair metal, traditional metal, thrash metal blah blah blah seemingly as popular \u2013 but not as good \u2013 as it was back in the 80s, we\u2019re now getting droves of bands imitating, reforming and paying homage, but thankfully Pit Stop<\/em> is a case of the men showing the boys how melodic rock is done.<\/p>\n

For me, the press release for this opus says it all, stating: \u201cTogether with Europe and Treat, for a few years in the late 80s, Dalton was a force to be reckoned with in Sweden. They enjoyed successful touring, teen media coverage, TV appearances and a string of radio hits. Even world stars such as Bon Jovi and Michael Bolton provided original songs to their two albums.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Sadly, like so many of the most promising hard rock and heavy metal bands in the 80s, their path to success was halted by the grunge invasion and Dalton was to be no more. However, Pit Stop<\/em> is living proof that things come in circles and boy are they making up for lost time. The quintet provides a sweet-as-sugar blend of hard rock and AOR with hints of bubblegum glam and lighter metal.<\/p>\n

The line-up consists of Bosse Lindmark (lead vocals), Leif Westfahl (guitar \/ backing vocals), Anders Lindmark (bass \/ backing vocals), Mats Dahlberg (ex-Treat; drums \/ backing vocals) and Ola Lindstr\u00f6m (keyboards \/ backing vocals), and the songs they\u2019ve created are sure to live long in the memory and in my opinion somehow bridge a cool gap between the heroic, anthemic stadium rock of Def Leppard and the clever, nifty dreaminess of 80s hair metal and glitter-edged pomp of Enuff Z\u2019Nuff.<\/p>\n

Bosse Lindmark has an almost fluffy, yet rich voice which skirts playfully over the dreamy structures, coming to life one moment and leading the tracks on but the next floating like a haze. This brings to mind former Enuff Z\u2019Nuff frontman Donnie Vie, especially on the stupendous \u2018Don\u2019t Tell Me Lies\u2019 with its hooky chorus and sensual plod.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, there are a handful if not more tracks which immediately stand out even after just one listen, so as you can imagine, a few hours spent in the company of this album is going to get you addicted. \u2018One Voice\u2019 is another of those sprightly affairs; bouncing along at a mid-tempo pace and threaded by Anders Lindmark\u2019s cool bass strut.<\/p>\n

Another biggie is the sublime \u2018Ready Or Not\u2019 with its pulsating keyboard injection and solid drum jab courtesy of the insistent Mats Dahlberg whose kick gives the track that extra, much-needed ingredient, suggesting that this cut is going to be a glamtastic stomp, and yet lowers its tempo then ascends again casting stardust over the speakers.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also downright impossible to ignore the driving \u2018Something For The Pain\u2019 with its fiery guitar tone and Bosse Lindmark\u2019s demands of \u201cGive me a doctor for my disease\u201d<\/em>, supplying an extra dose of oomph. And while it\u2019s nigh on impossible to pin-point a favourite track, I just can\u2019t escape the joyous throb of \u2018Hey You\u2019 and the stirring ballad \u2018Follow Your Dreams\u2019. But I dare anyone to delve into the 11-tracks on offer and find a flaw, because as it stands Pit Stop<\/em> might well be the most essential purchase of the year when it comes to good ol\u2019 fashioned but well-sugared melodic hard rock.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DALTONPit Stop Frontiers (2014)Rating: 9\/10 It\u2019s been a 20-year break for Swedish rockers Dalton, so I guess there\u2019s no time like the present to return. With AOR, hair metal, traditional metal, thrash metal blah blah blah seemingly as popular \u2013 but not as good \u2013 as it was back in the 80s, we\u2019re now getting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1513],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-dalton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22574"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22577,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22574\/revisions\/22577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}