This album stands out as sounding like it was mixed in some phenomenally well equipped studio. The sound is so balanced you could use it to calibrate your stereo speakers. Almost I wish I could travel to Germany just to see this band live, no kidding--they play with a lot of energy, and I can only imagine their stage show is something not to be missed.
More than just sound engineering went into this. I like hard rock, but one thing is required above all--if there is a vocalist, they must be GREAT, not something you wish would be drowned out by a Marshall stack. And this one is great! He has a warm, yet edgy voice that was born to rock. Stylistically, raindog is quite creative, making the most of clean-to-distorted, soft-to-loud transitions.
Further, the band's website is quite worthwhile:
http://www.raindog.de
From the history page, I found the story behind the band's name:
"Tom Waits, who released an album titled Raindogs on Island Records in 1985, described a raindog as a dog you would see huddled in the doorways of New York after a heavy rainfall because the rain has washed away its scent and it cannot find its way back home."
Now that's cool.
Right now, I'm in the download queue, waiting for some BitTorrent seeds to appear. I can't wait to burn this one to CD. The length of this album, about 25 minutes, leaves me wanting more.