This is another CD that is not new, yet new to me. I was actually looking through amazon.com's suggestions based on The Pretty Reckless (whose debut album I absolutely loved). Amazon gave me link for Halestorm, and I listened to some of the available samples and that was all she wrote.
Halestorm's debut CD, appropriately called Halestorm (the Hale siblings are responsible for the naming of this band), was released in 2009 and peaked on the US chart at number 40. They had two singles break into the US top 10. The second CD in this review is called Reanimate: The Covers EP. It was released in March of this year and is pretty much a six song cover EP.
The first song I listened to on Halestorm was It's Not You, and I was hooked on the rest of the album. The music, though not exactly intricate by any stretch of the imagination, is solid and inspired. Though some of the reviews I've seen of the CD say that the lyrics are cliche, I didn't get that. This is a rock and roll album of exceptional caliber. I Get Off, Bet U Wish U Had Me Back and Love/Hate Heartbreak make me long for the days when we weren't force fed over processed "rock" acts (Nickelback, anyone?) and overtly sexual pop music made by teenagers. At times Lzzy Hale (not a typo) sounds like Anne or Nancy Wilson, sometimes she channels Joan Jett. Either way, this chick rocks. Hard. With cleats.
I picked up Reanimate after listening to their version of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. There is a cover of Guns N Roses' song Out Ta Get Me, and it rocks. They cover Skid Row's Slave to the Grind, Heart's All I Want To Do, Temple of the Dog's Hunger Strike and The Beatles' I Want You. All are killer tracks.
My only disappointment is that Halestorm will not be releasing new music until sometime next year. I'll just have to make due with what I have.
Halestorm: On a scale of zero to ten stars with zero being the worst, this album gets TEN STARS.
Reanimate: On a scale of zero to ten stars with zero being the worst, this album gets TEN STARS.
Buy Halestorm from amazon.com.
Buy Reanimate from amazon.com.
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I liked their single and that's about it.
ReplyDeleteI am going to keep this short and sweet. Normally bands start to slip the more albums they put out. But this is clearly not the case with Five Finger Death Punch. This album starts off very strong and continues to the end. It is a must have.
ReplyDelete5FDP's CD is a good album, compared with everything else that is being released right now. I said good, not great.
ReplyDeleteWe'll have to agree to disagree, because I don't think they brought it as hard as they should have with that CD. It just wasn't what I expected.