Artist The Trews

Bands like Nickelback have turned the bombastic radio-friendly rock single into a form of musical drudgery, but their fellow Canadians The Trews prove that commercially friendly hard-rock can be enjoyable, even non-cloying. Yeah, someone in the band probably has a Train CD hidden in his sock drawer, but dammit, it takes a good-time attitude--God forbid, even a sense of humor--to spice up a single like "Paranoid Freak" with elements like a boogie piano. In general, a dash of Creedence and Allman Brothers influence goes a long way toward balancing out the shiny finish of albums like their latest, Hope And Ruin.

Updated 12/22/2011