Dirty Passion | Different Tomorrow

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by Nikiforos Skoumas
Staff Writer

Dirty Passion is a newcomer Swedish melodic hard rock band and Different Tomorrow is their debut album. Dirty Passion has managed, in a sense, to differentiate themselves from most other youthful acts of the melodic/poser genres coming out of Scandinavia. In terms of approach, Dirty Passion stand right in the middle between sleaze metallers Crashdiet and melodic hard rockers Crazy Lixx combining the raw-attitude of the former with the melody of the latter.

For that matter Different Tomorrow is by no means an over-produced or polished release (still both mixing and mastering are impeccable as one would demand from a current release). For the biggest part of the album there is a single layer of guitar playing, a raw bass line, and a very-natural drum sound. The vocals are a feat in their own right; Emil Ekbladh is a singer of admirable versatility combining elements of sleaze, glamor and AOR in his vocal performance depending on the attitude of each song. Credit is also due to Christopher Olsson, a guitarist who balances ideally rhythm and lead guitar playing, commonly opening the song on a melodic line switching to rhythm for the tune’s main body, leading to an accomplished solo of just about the right length. Finally the rhythm section of Markus Windberg and Bjorn Wilander provide the foundation that valiantly supports Dirty Passion is the hard rock adventure that is Different Tomorrow.

The lyrical concept rarely gets into love/hate territory, instead most songs appraise rock as a lifestyle (“Rockin’ in the night” and “This is the way”), as means of uniting people (“1,000,000, voices”) as well as being conscious enough to write about the downside of living the excessive rock n’ roll way (“A trip to paradise,” “We are all gonna fall” and “Liar”). Conclusively Different tomorrow comes out more like a rock-protest than a rock party, which is probably expected coming from a talented group in their 20s.

Dirty Passion’s Different Tomorrow is a must for fans of the Scandinavian melodic/glam/sleaze/AOR scene and should appeal to a certain extent to fans of traditional heavy metal, although clearly Dirty Passion never claimed to be a NWOTHM band.

Genre: Heavy Metal

Band:
Emil Ekbladh – Vocals
Christopher Olsson – Guitar
Markus Winberg – Drums
Björn Wilander – Bass

Label: Denomination Records

Track Listing:
1. This Is The Way
2. 1,000,000 Voices
3. Rockin’ In The Night
4. Different Tomorrow
5. A Trip To Paradise
6. Self-Destructive
7. Liar 3:38 $0.99
8. We’re All Gonna Fall
9. Selling Your Soul
10. Without You

Band Website: http://dirtypassion.net/

Hardrock Haven rating: 8.5/10