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Written by Lauren Signorino
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Tuesday, 15 May 2007 |
Dressed up as Life
Virgin Records
B+
The Aussie imports the Sick Puppies have now made their U.S. debut with their new album from Virgin Records Dressed up as Life.
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 Some You Tube junkies may have seen their video Free Hugs. If you haven’t seen the video yet I highly recommend checking it out because it will make feel very happy. The video for Free Hugs features an Australian man named Juan Mann who sat outside a mall and held a sign that said free hugs and the song “All The Same” is the soundtrack to the video. This video has sparked many free hugs campaigns around the world.
Sick Puppies were born in 1997 when lead singer Shimon Moore met bassist and baking vocals Emma Anzai in their high school music room and have been playing music together ever since. The Sick Puppies gained respect in Australia by winning Triple J’s Unearthed in 2001, and later that year they won “Best Live Performance” at a rock festival in Sydney. Dressed up as Life is the Sick Puppies second album their first was Welcome to the Real World released in 2001. The puppies account their sound to bands like Rage Against the Machine and Green Day. This bands sound is an eclectic mix of anger, pain, rage, and brooding. Bassist Emma Anzai had this to say about the bands new record “there were times when we were really depressed and then suddenly we were happy these songs capture that roller coaster.”
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| Personally I think more sad came through on the album than happy. “The Bottom” which is the last track on the record has a really sweet beginning guitar rift but then when the lyrics come I cringe a little. Part of the lyrics of “The Bottom” go “if you can’t beat them, might as well eat them, no ones getting out alive, it really is a wicked way to die.” No one can deny the overwhelming feeling of depression when reading such life discouraging lyrics. Not one track on this record is without heavy instrumentals and occasional angry rants. The instrumentals on this record are based heavily in the metal sound. On the song Issues I swear that the devil or a daemon of some sort makes a cameo by screaming bloody murder.
Despite the anger seeping out of the record the Sick Puppies are very talented musicians with a bright future ahead of them in the metal rock genre. Moore really shows the full range he can take his voice on this album and it’s very impressive. At first I thought this record was just going to be an entire album of complaining through yelling but I was very wrong and now I am elated to have the perfect record to listen to when I feel like venting some of my anger through rocking out to this killer record. The Sick Puppies have gained my respect not only through this album but also because I have to hand it to any band who can begin a worldwide free hugs campaigns.
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