Beachdog. Beachdog

Over the past months several singles of the new Utrecht band Beachdog came by on this blog. Finally the album is there. Ten songs long singer David Achter de Molen bleeds his vocal chords all over the listener, with the band following his every vocal move expertly and full of power.

Beachdog is all about rocking out and preferably loud. This band knows what it is going for alright: A maximum effect and reaching it with ease.

Achter de Molen made his claim to eternal fame a few years ago when while crowdsurfing catching a plastic glass filled with beer in mid air and drink it while surfing onwards. Not long afterwards his band John Coffey called it quits. In 2021 the singer announced his comeback with Beachdog. A case of blood being thicker than water I guess. With a voice like his, what else can a poor boy do but to sing in a hardrock band?

Beachdog is far from a one trick pony. This band seems to play a few styles with grace and ease. It isn't hard to make a lot of noise, to do so gracefully is another matter. Beachdog, let's say for about 80 percent of its album, puts the song first, the melody excels and then seems to decide how much noise it can either get away with or needs. The result is a number of fine songs that truly rock, while coming across as strong and melodic.

It's only a few songs that do not go down well with me, as they move towards metal too much. In other songs influences range as wide as Nirvana, Swedish rock from the 1990s and Queens of the Stone Age. Where the latter is concerned Beachdog can compete easily. There's so much energy going into the songs. Take 'The Patient', one of the more Nirvana minded songs, with a much deeper sound. One of those songs where I'm happy I'm not the singer, as within a minute I would have lost my voice. It seems David Achter de Molen is totally happy here.

Without his band Achter de Molen would not be half as good. Beachdog is a great band. Tight, loud, managing the dynamics perfectly, creating the light and the shade its music needs. Ruben Lisman (guitars), Mex van Gestel (drums) and Vincent Kuijpers (bass) are a perfect team. The listener faces a wall of sound but is left off the hook regularly, as the band shows the different sides of itself. Like in 'Crawl In Pieces', one of the strongest songs on 'Beachdog'. (The band has another rhythm section here though.) The same goes for the final song with Robin Piso of DeWolff, 'Good Morning'. The organ solo really takes off, creating a fine parting from 'Beachdog', inviting me to put on the album once again.

No, I've never been a metal fan. Beachdog manages to play around this genre by infusing elements from the grunge era, pop in some of the vocal melodies and classic hardrock. The result is an album that goes over my edge once or twice but as a whole is extremely strong. Another fine record in 2022.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Beachdog here:

https://snowstar.bandcamp.com/album/beachdog