PUMP - Against Everyone's Advice

11 songs
51:19 minutes
*****
Neon Knights

Bandpage

It either takes a whole bunch of guts or just a totally reactionary mindset to play the kind of music these German newcomers do. Influenced by the likes of Skid Row, Tesla and Dokken, and armed with a bagful of party songs, their debut Against Everyone's Advice is clearly aimed at the dwindling clientele of traditional hardrock sounds. Under the guidance of Tommy Newton, who used to work in the Golden Eighties with German cult melodic acts like Victory and Helloween, Pump get the right sound that respects the crunchiness of party rock of olden times as well as a powerful production as we have come to expect in the new millennium.

Pump rock best when they play pure and simple hardrock songs like Wasted which shows their adoration of Aerosmith, or Shake in a more bluesy AC/DC tradition. Their ballads It's Too Late and I'm Free on the other hand never really seem to ignite properly.

So what you get here is an ok traditional hardrock album, defying recklessly all modern sounds, but never as dirty as known from bands like the Poor or even Rose Tattoo. But then Pump have their roots less in rock'n'roll (unfortunately) than in Eighties hardrock. If you like the aforementioned bands, then Pump will be like the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, all other people better don't even listen to this.