Trixter - New Audio Machine

Nobody could have seen this one coming because this band barely made an impact and their fame was murdered by the Seattle led grunge movement. Their sophomore album was a mess and the production was rushed with little to no effort given to coming up with great songs was another issue it had. The band was no longer what anyone was interested in and their tour with Great White and Kiss didn't help them garner much support for that second album. This band returned a couple years later with an E.P. of covers that actually had a couple of good moments on it.

Here we are 20 years removed from Hear and 22 years removed from their decent debut albums. This is not the same Trixter at all. The band are little more aggressive and figured out how to take what worked from their debut and what didn't on their follow-up to create a very good rock record. This album is shockingly good because most bands of this ilk don't make very good new music most of the time and they usually just drop something to have a reason to tour.

Trixter rival their best song "Give It To Me Good" many times on New Audio Machine. Opening the record is "Drag Me Down" an instantly likable song with a great chorus. The band don't drop the ball on the album and actually pick it up huge with "Dirty Love" that has a shout a long chorus and a great solo by Steve Brown. Trixter was more gifted with the mid-paced or power ballad songs and they have one here called "Live For The Day" which sounds current enough to maybe get them back on radio but classic enough that their fans who still remember them would be familiar.

Just keep the rock n' roll coming because when its good like this you just don't want it to stop and they do it with "Physical Attraction" and the first single/video "Tattoos & Misery" that I absolutely adore. This song is a perfect pop rock song from the riff to the verses to the catchy chorus. Nothing is wrong about this track and it deserves to be a hit for them.

The album has eleven songs with a European bonus track called "Find A Memory". You aren't missing out not getting the bonus track North America its one of the weaker songs on the album if would be included. Do not dismiss this new Trixter album it is far better than you think at first sight, trust me.

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Brendan Benson - What Kind Of World

Brendan Benson's album opens with the title track as he laments his non understanding of being under appreciated and overlooked. This is sort of sad and funny at the same time as it is pretty true and he's got a point.

Benson is a great songwriter and has a gift that most would sell their souls for if that prophecy was a real option. His skill as a musician is again, wow the guy only plays guitar, bass, keyboards, drums and so on. His stint with Jack White in The Raconteurs is his biggest commercial success I guess. He worked with Jason Faulkner which is so damn awesome that he sits a little higher on the food chain in my music world for that reason alone.

I first discovered him seriously with the album The Alternative To Love from 2005 which is one of my favorites of the year and has one of my all-time favorite songs on it. This album has one of those candidates as well titled "Happy Most Of The Time" that bounces along and doesn't dare you to dance it reaches out of the speakers and grabs your ass and makes you. This is what bands like Squeeze always wished they could write on a consistent basis which they did do now and again to great success but I don't know if they pulled off a song this good.

Brendan does his best Ray Davies on "Here In The Deadlights" with a white hot chorus. The song walks around a psychedelic melody in the verses and breakdown but always maintains that Kinks feel. It is a total shame that this guy isn't a household name because he just does everything right. He takes pieces from the past and adds them to his power pop greatness and own charm to create music that would make Rick Nelson and Robin Zander jealous. This is an album that Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson tried to record many times but just didn't have the songwriting chops to achieve it but they can both sit back and listen to how their great careers and talents inspired one of the best rock artists of the 2000's.

The stark lushness of "No One Else But You" is jaw dropping and really makes me miss Jellyfish even more than I do on a daily basis. One thing that makes this album so damn sheik is the fact it was recorded completely in analog. You can hear all the glorious instruments in their natural form which is almost unheard of in 2012.

I can continue to gush all night about Brendan's genius and how this album is better than everything on radio and television and yes it's even better than Jack White's latest stroke of genius. But I will just do as Steven Tyler asked us and let the music do that talking. So go buy this album and give your ears an opportunity to hear what great music is and how wonderful it can make your life. This is surely the album to inspire an entire generation of young unknown budding rockers.

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Carrie Underwood - Blown Away

Carrie (Bl)Underwood arrives with album number four and for me it was met with meh who cares. This girls got a good voice but just like the early career of Faith Hill she picks poor material to sing and release. She's been lucky that the Idol machine and her label staff has been able to convince country radio and fans that she's the real deal when she's proved she can achieve one decent song per album and somehow the other crap seems to stick to the walls.

Well this is the first time I can honestly say I like the majority of her 2012 release Blown Away. I actually enjoy nearly all the tracks with the obvious torch song poppycock aside Carrie has finally realized her potential and given her voice some exemplary material as a vehicle to showcase that voice. One thing that I like about the album is that she just sings most of the time with less vocal gymnastics and that is what I liked about her on American Idol. She just sang even though she could out sing Mariah or Whitney and even step into Reba's league without breaking a sweat.

This time around the best songs are so good that I believe this is going to be a massive seller out pacing everything she's released previously. One listen to the awesome "Nobody Ever Told You" and how can you not agree that it has number one hit written all over it. Then you hear another stunning song like "Leave Love Alone" and the good songs don't end there she has even more top flight songs like "One Way Ticket" which is not a cover of the LeAnn Rimes track by the way. "One Way Ticket" has a lot in common with Kenny Chesney and Jimmy Buffet and is undeniably charming. She strikes gold many times with Blown Away and I can only hope that this is the beginning of a magnificent turn in her career.

There are a couple of country pop tunes on the album one being the first single "Good Girl" and even it is a powerful pop number that shines brightly on this dominant record. The ladies of country music are going to have a very hard time competing with Carrie this time around. Now remember all this praise is coming from someone who is not a big fan of Underwood. I'm pretty anit-Underwood but I can give positive credit out when an artist pulls their head from their nether region and releases an album that is this good.

One of the best ballads on Blown Away is "See You Again" that borders on power ballad territory. Another of the albums formidable compositions "Cupid's Got A Shotgun" is an uptempo two-step that will fill dance floors everywhere. Carrie croons "Wine After Whiskey" and although she doesn't match the epic torture of Lee Ann Womack does with sort of song Underwood emotes very well and could have another hit with this track as it reminds me in spirit of "Fooled Around & Fell In Love" which is one of the greatest love songs of all-time. This song doesn't match it but it has that sort of charm buried inside it.

She does do one of the no no songs "Thank God For Home Towns" the sort of song that has become a genre of its own. The bland ballads about where you come from or long to be or proud to be from ridiculous Americana garbage. I just can't stand these farcical overwrought fake ballads. You have every country singer putting at least one on their records it seems and it sucks. Her torch songs still lacks but 99% of torch songs are awful so she's almost doomed when looking for this sort of goo to sing. The albums title track is also a pretty good tune, the production on her voice is a little different as well as her delivery. This could be another candidate for single to radio as many of the included songs on Blown Away.

Overall this album is about as good as a country pop record can be with the formula that needs to be concocted in this current Cashville era. I recommend this album to any and all fans of country, pop and female vocalist. There is nary a bad track and if you don't believe me please check out the samples or head to I-Tunes and see for yourself. The album art is the most negative thing about the album. It is cheap looking it doesn't really resemble Carrie with the angle and make-up or airbrushing used on the photo. Maybe she's had a lot of plastic surgery or something but I really don't like the artwork and its too bad because the music it houses is so much more deserving of a great packaging to promote interest.

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Check Out: Dev - 99 Red Balloons

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Great White - Elation

I was surprised as hell to see a new Great White album and then I was completely excited when I found out Terry Ilous from XYZ was replacing Jack Russell who's not delivered a song to my ears that excited me in too many years to care. The album kicks off with the very Angel City "(I've Got) Something For You" which to be honest I'm not sure it isn't one of their songs. The rocking and rolling is energetic and aggressive which is not expected considering how bland and slow the bands stuff has been the last ten years.

This is a sign of things to come and that is a great thing because I always want to love a Great White album and they have made it very hard to do so many times. As Elation plays out the beautiful gritty and heart pouring "Hard To Say Goodbye" is one of the bands best tracks and stands up as one of the greatest slow songs for sure. Terry doesn't make me miss Jack's excellent soulful vocals at all because he's a great singer and his voice works well in the confines of Great White's bluesy hard rock style. I would have loved to hear them cover "Face Down In The Gutter" but all this new music is on par with Once Bitten, Twice Shy, Hooked and Psycho City and probably better than a couple of those albums Hooked not being one of them as that album is a masterpiece and the definitive blues inspired hard rock record.

The bands new found inspiration and songwriting abilities shown on songs such as "Resolution" and "Shotgun Willie's" could not have been predicted. This doesn't sound like a band eighteen or so albums into a career. All I can say is if you only listen to two songs on the album to decide if you are going to buy it make them those two because you get a fair representation of the rest of the record. Michael Lardie's greatness once again comes to the forefront with the clear and present production. He's really underrated as a producer and arranger and musician and so on. He's everywhere on this record with all the different instruments and his keyboards that always bring the sound together. The obvious excellence of Mark Kendall and his scorching guitar playing is never second rate or unimpressive. The crunchy Scorpions groove of "Lowdown" shows he can really do it all from heavy groove to sexy melodic to kick ass rock n' roll. The song is not one of the standout tracks but it does have a nice riff.

The three pack that closes down Elation are all seriously good Great White compositions that don't sound out of place in their catalog. The band almost save the best for last with the groovy honky tonk rock n' roll of "Complicated" that is absolutely going to be added to my I-Pod for lots of listening time. This song satisfies my soul and put this album over the top for me. Great White is back and with a great big HELL YEAH! I say go buy this now!

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Feeder - Generation Freakshow

Feeder continue to chase the dream with album number eight and I don't hate it as with most of their albums its decent but nothing to write home about is the usual feeling after listening to their current releases. The opening song "Oh My" suffers from thin almost abrasive production on the guitars which could have been turned down a little and tightened up as well sound wise which would have made the song radio ready.

This issue continues throughout Generation Freakshow and so this album is going to have a lot of trouble breaking through to the mainstream ears that have to hear it to make them hits. The very grunge "Sunrise" sounds way to passe and makes me almost laugh at the dirge. Title track appears and there is a good song in there under the annoying guitar sounds buzzing over top of the melody. This kinda pisses me off because with a little production and engineering this is a great tune.

Again shit gets thin and tiny screwing up another well written song "In All Honesty" which has guitars that sound like they were recorded with a practice amp and an old school Sony Walkman that recorded with the headphone mics (who remembers that white piece of awesomeness?). The very punk and pleasant "Headstrong" has more of the same issues which only makes me wish they'd get The Flaming Lips to produce the album in a re-recording or even Don Gilmore or Dave Fridmann who all understand how to make great sounding albums.

In the end this album fails miserably from all its technical short comings and is a total pisser because there are some good songs being screwed over on this album.

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Eve 6 - Speak In Code

I can say this is a return to the formula that worked very well for this band back in 1998 when I fell in love with them. They blew chunks on their last album and it wasn't just bad it was fucking terrible. This album comes back to their original and more honest sound but doesn't match the greatness that was "Inside Out" but they come pretty close to it on "Everything" which I immediately liked.

The production is very good and full of bouncy drums and punchy guitars not to mention some decent harmony vocals. Songs like "Victoria" the first single better garner some radio play because its a very good track. Another of the standouts is "Situation Infatuation" which again better get support so this band can get back in the limelight where they belong once again.

The album isn't perfect by any means but there is more than enough to love on Speak In Code that earns a chance to become a hit. The albums closing number "Pick Up The Pieces" is a great shimmering love song that wouldn't sound out of place on a Train record. Again a very good comeback for Eve 6 lets all get out and support them so they don't release another turd like It's All in Your Head.

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Jack White - Blunderbuss

Let's start this off by saying thank you to Jack for giving us the best Rolling Stones record since 1973's Goat Heads Soup which if you take everything after that record that band became nothing more than a singles act. Here Jack White's new album Blunderbuss works perfectly within the classic Stones instruction manual. He has some country sounds but never crosses over into true country territory. At times he's folk in spirit but never becomes unabashed in his delivery to be considered a folk act. There are many songs that are glistening with rock n' roll swagger that nobody outside of maybe the Black Keys have delivered in years.

The album opens with a sassy little number called "Missing Pieces" that has more depth and weight than all the current music on rock radio combined. This is a real piece of art and a perfect song because of the spirited delivery wonderfully organic musicianship and of course Jack's cool vocals. As simple as the song might be you can't deny the edgy coolness that invades your ears for 3:27. “Every morning I deliver the news,” shrieks Jack White on Sixteen Saltines. “Black hat, white shoes and I’m red all over.” With its slasher guitar and funky Hammond organ riffs powering an emotional roller-coaster of lust and jealousy, this is White as his fans probably always imagined him.

 The album has some moments that aren't just jaw dropping genius creations they are epic journeys of emotion set to music. The incredible pain of "Love Interuption" that is present in the words is delivered with a passive aggressive musical passage. White's predilection for a modern Orson Welles mystique is the thread networking the seam that pulls the blues-demon / folk romantic / Rock vagabond / Old West saloon spittoon anthems together into a mix of, frankly, shockingly fluid cohesion. But nothing prepares us for the sinister creep and tumbling percussion cauldron of "Freedom At 21". Suddenly our ideas of a "Jack White record" seem quaint in light of this monstrous personality, this damnation of modernity that embraces the man-eaters of the era vulgaris, enabled by culture and corrupted by mean-spirited self-absorbtion. Hey, we've all been there, right?
 

Somewhere between these two poles, between a fan-like enthusiasm for the historic base of “classic” rock ’n’ roll and a restless, itchy urge for originality, Jack White has concocted an absolute corker: a rich, ripe masterpiece with two feet in the past and a nose for the future. Yet, for all the pain and self-doubt, it sounds like White is having a ball. From its raucous, raw-edged opening salvo to the softer, weirder, ruminative closing tracks, Blunderbuss crackles with life and energy, hauling roots rock out of the dusty museum and into the dazzling light of the modern day.

Rounding the final bend, "Take Me With You When You Go" is a gang-vocal backup party with Ruby, Laura Matula and White's ex Karen Elson lending breath. Carla's fully immersive percussive dynamic carries the jalopy down the road, coupled with Jack's piano flurries - until a false finish at the two-minute mark, when a rush of keys tells us the fun's not over, the fuzz guitar takes charge and shit gets righteous. A fiery heel-clicker solo and shimmying vocal - a thickly-harmonized melody volleying with Ruby - through the final verse sends us off smashingly, a rollicking celebration and parting kiss.

Oddly enough, we started listening to this album hoping to hear a handful of future club-friendly hits in the vein of 'Seven Nation Army' or 'Steady As She Goes'. By the end, we were charmed and warmed by the Stones country influences and feeling very foolish for hoping that Jack White would simply repeat his previous successes. A spectacular solo debut from an established musician, 'Blunderbuss' more than secures White's position as one of the world's biggest rock stars, whether alone or with a band. One of 2012's finest rock albums. We can psychoanalyze the road, the reasons and the rationale, we can marvel like stargazers at the Wonka-meets-Welles architecture or we can just spin the black circle and celebrate.

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Train - California 37

Well this is a great surprise to have an entire new follow-up to the brilliant and best of their career album Save Me, San Francisco so quickly and well maybe it isn't as quick as one would think but that album has such great staying power that it is still sounding as fresh as it did when it was first released.

California 37 continues the journey set forth on Save Me, San Francisco and does with a great song "This'll Be My Year" which nearly runs through my life personally. I could put this song on repeat and listen to it for an hour easily, as the album progresses this sort of feeling sticks around as Train has figured out what it is to make an album that has substance. The pop rock single "Drive By" is just as good as all their other hits and is a nice bouncy uptempo tune that has one of those sing-a-long chorus's impossible not to be included in when it plays.

I've always said that if they would keep the tempo's quick they would consistently be wonderful and for the most part that happens on California 37. "Feels Good At First" is another of those songs that paints such a wonderful picture in your mind as it unfolds. The uplifting country tune "Bruises" which features Ashley Monroe is worth the price of admission. It's such a happy, positive and loving tune that makes this pretty nice sunny spring day I'm enjoying even better. The validation of which the chorus is sung so proudly by both vocalist makes this song sail. If you don't hit repeat and listen to it again I'd be surprised because its just so damn catchy.

The band slides a little with "50 Ways To Say Goodbye" but then again wait, that, that, Kelly Clarkson styled chorus picks it up enough to compensate for the Spanish ole verse and melody. Now the song that follows it opens with a whistling melody and I'm sucked in immediately. I'm such a sucker for handclaps, la la's, whistling, ooh ooh's and the like. I do love the melody but the chorus is a bit weak and not as good the material that came before it which is a tad disappointing.

That stumble is all forgiven with the genius "Sing Together" that follows and is probably my favorite song of the week now. The sweet mandolin and squeeze box instrumentation that accompanies Pat Monahan's crooning vocals is more inviting that a fresh plate of poutine with extra cheese and mom's best gravy ever.

As with all Train records the production value is amazing. This band makes excellent sounding records and usually they are superior to everyone else out there. Very few bands make such great sounding records from and engineering point even if you don't like the songs they still have glorious production.  The album closes with back to back slow numbers in the very typical Train fashion which I'm not the biggest fan of but I have to admit I like them both "We Were Made For This" is the better of the two but "When The Fog Rolls In" reminds me of The Band in dynamics with a nice southern gospel undertone that makes you want to sway side to side as it plays through.

Train followed their excellent 2009 album with one that is almost as great and has now turned me into a real fan of them. I was still on the fence about them but I'm not any longer I'm joining the bandwagon with the rest of their fans.

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Neon Trees - Picture Show

This band has a fairly large job ahead of themselves in following up their debut and the solid singles released from Habits. Neon Trees kicks gets off on the right foot with "Moving In The Dark" a solid pop rock songs that has a great groove and a catchy chorus. The albums first single is astounding with its glorious chorus and uber catchy melody. This is a great pop rock song from what is turning out to be a great band.

The excellent new wave synth pop of "Mad Love" follows that glorious single and reminds me of all the great things about Men Without Hats. Yes Men Without Hats had lots of greatness. Back to Picture Show and this album keeps within the modern wave of bands who are reinterpreting the alternative, new wave, new romantic sounds of bands like Psychedelic Furs, Thompson Twins, Modern English, XTC or even The Jam to some degree. Just listen to "Weekend" and if you can't hear all of those bands influence on Neon Trees songwriting you are daft of musical knowledge.

The visceral dance groove of "Lessons In Love (All Day, All Night)" is immediately familiar like you've been listening to this since the mid 80's. The song includes Kaskade and she's nearly invisible on the track so none of that sticking out like a sore thumb in a featuring role on this track and I prefer that sort of performance more so than not. The album is very chill oriented for a few tracks but picks back up with "Hooray For Hollywood" and it's a decent track but lacks a little something, nice try but it's more of a foul ball than anything.

It's as if the band forgot who they were and tried to be the Killers on the back half of the album. I'm not impressed about that change of direction to be honest. You get to a point where the songs begin to just pass by unnoticed and until the concluding track "I Am The DJ" you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between most of the music in last five or six songs. But I really like the closing number and it's going to be one of the tunes from this album to make it to my I-Pod which is where only the good stuff goes and stays. Overall this album is good because the front lead-in is strong and the last song is very good.

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Jumping Jack - Trucks & Bones

A busy day of reviews culminates with Jumping Jack's album Trucks & Bones. The band sound like Metallica well later era Metallica they use some Tool, Disturbed and myriad of other current metal bands sounds to try to fuse their own. All that does is show how pathetic they are because they have nothing personal to draw from only copy all the cool kids that came before them adding nothing new or original to their sound. The songs all sound the same with the exact same guitar tone on every track nearly the same pace on every track as well.

I honestly couldn't tell you one song that was good because after a minute of track one I don't think a new song started or the first has ended yet. Another good song title though "Drunk Peanut" is cool too bad its probably lame because I can't remember what it sounded like and I honestly don't give a shit either. I do know it had some bad vocals shouting or shrieking and a bland distortion on the guitar and of course it has some pounding of a plodding rhythm.

The band look like they might be Mexican probably given their cactus/desert artwork of lameness. The best thing about Jumping Jack is their name and hopefully someone else in a few years that doesn't suck can steal the name and attach it to something cool.

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Heaven Below - Falling From Zero

Run of the mill modern hard rock, is it bad? No, is it good? Not really. They want to be Dope meets Marylin Manson but don't have the writing or the creativity to even ape those bands sounds properly. They sound like they are writing entrance themes for the WWE or TNA wrestling but not the great ones. The title track is decent and could garner a spot on my I-Pod but I don't think it will get to that status. I love the song title of "Gravity Killed The Spaceman" but the song is weak just like the stomp styled "Villains Of Virtue" which doesn't catch fire.

The one time I start to like a song is "Failure Notice" that actually doesn't suck at first then falls from grace crashing to the ground with a whimper disappearing. Another piece of shit record which shouldn't be a surprise considering not everything can be great. This band will never even be a footnote and will be gone as fast as donuts in my hand.

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Atom Smash - Beautiful Alien

This band didn't make a big splash for me at all on their debut and well my opinion is very similar this time around. The band take a very 90's alternative rock path in the creation of Beautiful Alien and that is such a problem for me considering hard rock bands doing Alt. Rock music never quite do either well enough to cut through all the bullshit and get to the actual song.

There is no reason to get to the song on this album because they are all pretty lame and uninspired shit. The best tune is a cover of "Kiss From A Rose" which is decent but nothing to write home about. If you enjoy pedestrian alternative music that has no originality or spirit then hell this is your record. Please just let this shit die a quiet death in obscurity because it deserves to do so. This band is a candidate for a dozen dead roses to signify their career future.

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Axel Rudi Pell - Circle Of The Oath

There are some artists that have entire careers outside of North America and we never hear of them over a ten or twenty year span. Axel Rudi Pell is one such artist being his first album dropped in 1989 and he's continued to release music on a regular basis since.

Pell really found their sound when former Hardline vocalist Johnny Gioeli joined the fold in 1997. From that point is where I first noticed them because of being a fan of Gioeli and I've continued to enjoy much of what the group has put out. The last album The Crest however did not impress me at all and I was firmly disappointed with it and the band on the whole. Here the ship seems to have been corrected and is sailing along nicely once again.

There are a few songs that have become friends with the skip button quickly and some that are so good I've already listened to them multiple times. Let's be honest this album isn't going to stand up to a lot of the music released this year but "Ghost In The Black", "Hold On To Your Dream" "Run With The Wind" and "Before I Die" are very good European metal songs that can fit nicely in your random metal playlist shuffle.

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He Is We - Skip To The Good Part E.P.

I actually find this album pleasant and cute with so much sugary goodness that my teeth ache after listening to it. The first single "All About Us" is a perfect pop song and is probably to great to be hit on pop radio given the moron's who program it and the drones who make up most of its listening audience.

The warm and soft production that comes off as airy and flowing allows the songs to float in the air like clouds of sound you can play in and dream alongside the creators. The band kind of walk between Paramore and the genius of Boy Least Likely Too who released one of my all-time favorite albums The Law Of The Playground. I think that He Is We is better than Paramore for sure but still have room to grow and become one of the best pop bands ever.

Listen to the brilliance of "Skip To The Good Part" a song that if I was a writer I'd just quit after coming up with the perfect pop song, as this is one of the few perfect absolutely flawless slices of pop that has ever been heard by my ears. The song from production to structure to performance to instrumentation to melody to lyrics is undeniably wonderful. It gives me that feeling of playing with soft sand on the beach on a nice day where it's not too hot or too cold or too crowded and you just can't stop smiling and pouring the sand from hand to hand feeling like you're having the greatest day of your life.

The alternate version of "All About Us" features Owl City which is a perfect fit for his twee pop leanings. I hope that this song in one form or the other breaks huge for the band because they deserve to be rewarded for being as great as I know they are.

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Halestorm - The Strange Case Of...

I keep hearing how great the new Lacuna Coil album is and how this album will not have a chance in comparison but after the first listen Halestorm's chew'd bubblegum and kicked their ass without breaking a sweat. By the time this album eclipses the previously mentioned bands current release we are only on track four. If the rest of The Strange Case Of... totally sucked for the duration it wouldn't matter to me as I've gotten four excellent tunes and that's more than most albums can deliver.

Lzzy Hale’s delivery of the lyrics will grind you into a pulp, and then spit in what’s left of your face. She does soften it up a little as on "Beautiful With You" which is a shining example of what a great power ballad sounds like and the band delivers a song which can sit alongside any of the Heart classics from years past. Howard Benson drives the production bus and as always the production is flawless. This next statement doesn't need to be qualified but The Strange Case Of... is one of the best albums of 2012 without a doubt.

The incredible beauty of "In Your Room" has a sweet melody with a bittersweet reading by Izzy and some nice guitar playing by Joe Hottinger. As with a lot of female fronted bands they fall into ballad snooze land too often for my taste and this sort of happens here but the massive difference is the songwriting that Halestorm puts forth. The ballads leave all the Gothic trappings of Evanescence where they belong in the toilet. They keep it all tight with rock n' roll never allowing themselves to be compromised which gives their ballads depth and I feel the pain in them which gets buried to often in modern hard rock and metal records.

After a trio of said power ballads they pick it back up on "Rock Show" which brings me flashes of Queen from the It's A Kinda Magic/Innuendo era in the structure and epic-ness of the idea. What comes next is obviously a cranking of the volume dial for "Daughters Of Darkness" which begins with a rhythmic chanting then explodes into a chorus Kelly Clarkson would kill to have in one of her songs. It is sort of funny because this album is very much a kindred spirit to what Kelly tried to achieve on her 2007 release My December but forgot to keep the big ballsy chorus's which are so present here.

The album has some really great songs but one of the standouts is "You Call Me a Bitch Like It's a Bad Thing" that is a perfect anthem for the nice girls who, because they don't fall for the idiots of my sex get painted as something they are not. I love a powerful woman because they make the world a better place for me to live in and this song really speaks to me growing up with single mother who was anything but a powerful and strong woman. I did get lucky to marry one though, which is great.

This album continue to impress until it concludes with the bonus track "Hate It When You See Me Cry" there is one other tune worth mentioning and might be the best one on the album "Here's To Us" which has a little hint of Stevie Nicks and a touch of the best Lady GaGa has to offer. I'm at this point saying that this is the best album I've heard this year and it is going to take something pretty special to usurp its number one position on my current best of list. There is awesome and then there is totally awesome and this album is totally awesome a perfect album yup this is as good as it gets.

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