Takida

The Darker Instinct

Written by: PP on 25/11/2009 02:21:51

Lets see a show of hands, who knows Swedish post-grunge act Takida? I've certainly never heard of them until their third album "The Darker Instinct" arrived in my mailbox, but it seems I probably should have since their sophomore album was certified platinum in Sweden for sales in excess of 50,000 copies. Pardon my language but holy fuck that's impressive in today's industry landscape. Had the album been released in the US and people had bought as many copies in proportion to the larger population, they'd have shifted 1.7 million copies of the record. That's a lot of records, and all signs are pointing toward "The Darker Instinct" doing the same, as it has already reached 20,000+ copies sold as well as conquered the #1 spot in the Swedish charts. And no, I'm not confusing Takida's numbers with some obnoxious pop singer.

The Swedish mainstream press are almost universally in agreement that Takida sucks, considering the 1/5 and 2/5 ratings given to all Takida albums without exception. Seems like it's a trend in Sweden to hate on these guys, but I'm not gonna jump on the bandwagon just because Takida's sound is formulaic. Yeah, they have big budget production, and their songs are totally mainstream post-grunge / rock with big riffs and even bigger anthemic choruses. But isn't it possible to write music that's formulaic and good at the same time? Alter Bridge comes into mind as the perfect example, not just to prove my point but also because Takida sounds a great deal like them. Insert a great vocalist, massive choruses and easily-accessible instrumentation spiced up with enough variation... why should that be considered bad if it sounds this good? I mean Takida are infinitely better than bands like Rev Theory, Puddle Of Mudd, Trapt, or Sevendust. And despite all the hate Creed always gets, I'd say most of Takida's songs are about on the same level as Creed's lesser known songs (i.e. not "Higher" etc). They aren't going to blow your mind away with artistic completeness, I'll readily admit that. But Takida have clearly been tasked to write solid heavy rock / post-grunge tracks capable of filling stadiums, and that's exactly what the songs on this record succeed in doing without losing every bit of artistic integrity like, for instance, The Jonas Brothers. You'd better feel ashamed to admit liking those guys, but I'll openly state I've quite enjoyed the tracks on "The Darker Instinct" without the fear of a backlash.

Fair enough, Takida don't bring anything new to the table considering their sound is about as original as a white sheet of paper. It's in fact a perfect carbon copy of their peers overseas. But does that really matter when your tracks are as strong as "As You Die" or "End Is Near"? Not in my opinion, but check out the tracks in the player and voice your opinion in the comments.

7

Download: As You Die, End Is Near
For the fans of: Alter Bridge, Creed, Rev Theory
Listen: Myspace

Release date 12.10.2009
Universal Music

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.