Ragdoll – Ragdoll
www.ragdoffrock.com

Rating: B

They come from a land down under!  That explains…well, nothing really, other than the fact that they are Australian.  And maybe it proves that Aussies have better musical tastes than Americans do these days. Just listen to the debut album by this trio called Ragdoll and you’ll see what I’m talking about.  It’s modern, but there are nods all over the place to classic hard rock music on this release.

The band admits their influences range from Van Halen to Led Zeppelin, King’s X to Rush.  While they have a bit of that current rock sound -mainly in the production and vocals- one can tell they have no problem letting out their inner DIO, Rush, Whitesnake and Soundgarden for all to hear. 

“Here Today” starts off the album, and it rocks while garnering the listener’s attention.  From there “Heaven Above” stands for its strong composition and “Ashamed” just makes you want to listen to this album again and again. 

Ragdoll—probably not the best name in the world—is a band that has a real chance.  They can appeal to both older and younger rockers.  They have a solid foundation in the past with an effort to add their own sound to it.  Most important, the music calls one back to it, which is a rare in this day and age of throw away MP3s. 

Track listing:

Here Today
Tell Me
Could It Be Love
Heaven Above
Overnight Sensation
Foot to the Floor
The Feeling
Ashamed
In My Mind
Rewind Your Mind (Live)
All I Want (Live)
Tell Me (Live)
Foot To The Floor (Live)

By Jeb Wright