Sick Puppies - Dressed Up As Life

I received the Sick Puppies album the other day at work. (Perks of the job and having an editor who is not interested in this sort of music.)
Pretty much everyone around the world would have heard of Sick Puppies at one point of another - they are the ones who shot to fame with their "Free Hugs" video on YouTube, sparking a trip to the US, appearances on Oprah and Jay Leno and a new signing with Virgin Records.
Originally discovered by the Triple J Unearthed competition, Rolling Stone once called this Sydney band "the most dynamic new band in the country."
With the Free Hugs campaign in mind, I assumed Sick Puppies had a sugar-pop easy listening sound.
This was not the case.
Dressed Up As Life is a short, sharp and punchy album.
It's catchy as hell - and far from sugary sweet.
I've always been a sucker for soaring vocal melodies over heavy guitar distortion and this album is no exception.
There were times when listening to it that I thought "oh no, not another emo/post punk/soft metal band again."
However while it does border on, shall we say, unoriginality, it packs enough punch to be a breath of fresh air with some great guitar riffs and some brilliant bass lines.
Track 4, What Are You Looking For, is a perfect example of soaring melodies vs heavy distortion.
The "I hate the world and the world hates me" style of lyric writing however, is now officially getting tiresome - it's not that bad people, chin up.
In all, the album was a surprisingly enjoyable piece of music in a genre that has almost become dead in the water.

Three stars.