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| The Strange Case Of... |
This is the sophomore effort by Halestorm. This band piqued my interest because there is a female in the band, Lzzy Hale. I hope there will come a point where this no longer piques my interest, but until such point, homogeneity is the enemy of all art forms. Unlike a few other female metal vocalists, Lzzy does more than just scream. She is also credited with guitars and keyboard on this album.
This is another of my many recommendations by Amazon.com. As many know, that is where I purchase the vast majority of my music. I checked out a couple previews of this album and and on the wishlist it went.
Lzzy sings about angry love and refusing to be held back. She belts it out with such conviction, I found myself singing along with her, and some of those lines aren't precisely appropriate for a hetero man to be pumping his fist along to, but these tracks are infectious, groove laden, and heavy.
Until this year, I had lost the faith in metal, but bands like Halestorm are restoring it and I am loving that.
But, starting at track four, the timbre and tone of the album changes. Gone are the sexy and angry vocals and lyrics. A more sensitive side of Lzzy comes out with "Beautiful With You" and "In Your Room."
Even though the songs preceding these two are heavy, fast, and angry, these sweeter songs fit so well into where this is going. This would be a great time to "flip over the record" as it were. There are definitely some vintage stylings in this album.
If this album came out when it was genre appropriate, I don't imagine that it would have been well received or even recorded. Like a lot of music out there, "The Curious Case Of..." is strongly descended from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
They may be Metallica's children, but they are the grandchildren of Diamondhead and Venom. All in all, this is a great record with varying moods and tones. There is nothing homogeneous about it and that's awesome.
Genre: Metal
Year: 2012
Run Time: 40:56
Tracklisting:
1. "Love Bites (So Do I)"
2. "Mz. Hyde"
3. "I Miss the Misery"
4. "Freak Like Me"
5. "Beautiful with You"
6. "In Your Room"
7. "Break In"
8. "Rock Show"
9. "Daughters of Darkness"
10. "You Call Me a Bitch Like It's a Bad Thing"
11. "American Boys"
12. "Here's to Us"
As you know by now, I'm not always a fan of this genre, but I liked this song. Sometimes it takes the right mood, and I usually like the guitar and drums far more than the lyrics, but I'd put that song in my iPod :)
ReplyDeleteIt's important to walk outside our comfort zones from time to time...
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