Band:	House Of Shakira
Album:	Retoxed
Style:	Melodic hard rock
Release date:	October 19, 2007
A review by:	Baz Anderson

01. Retox
02. Small Town
03. No Faith
04. Crazy But No Fool
05. Life And Death
06. Gabon Viper
07. High Above
08. Red Alert
09. Bloodline
10. Angel Dancer
11. Turkish Nights

House Of Shakira have been around for quite a number of years, and now ten years on from the band's debut these Swedish melodic hard rockers return with their latest offering "Retoxed". House Of Shakira are one of a seemingly booming collection of bands at the moment that are intent on keeping the old style of rock 'n' roll that became so popular around the time of the 80's, this is not new territory for these rockers though as after forming in 1991 this is studio album number five.

"Retoxed" is a modern album with all the charms of the classic rock bands, multiple layers of vocals singing super catchy melodies in every chorus of the album. The band call these, their trademark vocals their "Abba inspiration" with lead vocalist Andreas Eklund constantly being vocally backed up by lead guitarist Mats and bassist Per to produce a grand, sonic wall of singing. Infectious guitar riffs always present make "Retoxed" almost a hard rocking hybrid son of Abba and Kiss. "Crazy But No Fool" and "Life And Death" back to back is the main highlight of the just under fifty minute long album, real rock music with a strong touch of melody, boasting some of the best music of this genre.

House Of Shakira ooze confidence and ability without sounding overly cocky or arrogant. Production is crystal clear, enticing cover art, a good overall performance; "Retoxed" is an all round great album. Nothing highly original or groundbreaking though, no overall outstanding highlight and there may be a couple of songs on the album that slip inconspicuously under radar, but if you know you have a soft spot in your heart for this melodic, highly singing oriented kind of hard rock then these minor drawbacks will have little or no affect on your overall enjoyment of the album. This is melodic hard rock how it should be.

A good beat follows through the whole album, that finishes with the more sombre "Turkish Nights" closing the album, still keeping an element of swagger about it the song is almost ballad-ish and suitable for a fresh, modern, contagious album that delivers what it sets out to deliver in the true spirit of rock. This is not hard, heavy metal, it is mature, elegant and dashing, classy rock 'n' roll that aims to get its infectious charms into your head, and for the most part succeeds marvellously.