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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