Sick Puppies

Australia-formed band Sick Puppies sounds ridiculously at ease in its adopted American home, or at least amid the modern-rock and emo hordes. It’s an abjectly savvy hybrid, measuring in bits of what passes for rebelliousness, metal, and cathartic balladry on washed-out rock radio. That makes it perfect for Nickelback and Creed fans, but also for Dashboard Confessional fans, and maybe even Smashing Pumpkins fans who don’t know what they had back in the ’90s. The band even has the viral-novelty factor locked in, thanks to a much-viewed YouTube video for “All The Same.” The band built on the modest success of 2007’s Dressed Up As Life with 2009’s Tri-Polar, which found greater chart success thanks in part to the single “You’re Going Down” landing a spot as the theme song for WWE’s Extreme Rules. Their latest release is the new Polar Opposite, which collects acoustic versions of their best-known songs.

Updated 04/04/2011