BLESSED BY A BROKEN HEART - review added 10th October 2008
Album Review: Pedal To The Metal (2008)
For fans of: alternative metal... and split personalities
What's your definition of crazy? Mine used to flit between people who liked Dido and those who wore pants on their head and pencils up their nostrils. The good news is I now have a new one: this album.
It truly is thoroughly bonkers; like nothing I've ever heard before. Imagine a rock band being formed in a schizophrenic care home and you'll only be half way there. I have no idea what illicit chemicals the band members had access to through their upbringing, but they should certainly commercialize them. The album is brilliant!
I'll admit, when I first heard it my thoughts were summed up by the phrase, huh? But after a few more listens it has grown like a chocolate tumour and I can't get enough. You've got pop, metal, disco, 80's hair rock, you name it you'll find it here. It's as if someone traveled through time and kidnapped members of Busted, Bullet For My Valentine, The Scissor Sisters and Faith No More and made them re-record the soundtrack for Beverly Hills Cop II metal style.
One minute you have double kick drums, thrashy trashy guitars and gutteral vocals, the next it's keyboards, poppy pomp and more youthful exuberance than a week-old lamb in a frisk. The changes between the styles come frequently but seem natural, carrying the record along at such a rate it always finishes before you expect it. Such is the pace it can leave you out of breath, huge chunks of every song having an anthemic quality that'll get rock club devotees punching the air in drunken delight.
As far as party records go this is the best since Andrew WK's first effort, although that was a bag of crap so I apologize for bringing it up. If you like driving quick, dancing hard or pretending you're a teenager, this album will be right up your street. Without a doubt not everyone will 'get' this record; it's so good at catering for everyone it can lack focus, but for anyone prepared to open their mind they will find nothing but a smile in their ears.
The question remains: have Blessed By A Broken Heart defined a new sound or merely borrowed from and rehashed a multitude of others? I would say the latter, but they have done it so well it's hard to care.
Check out... The madness of it all.
Track List:
1. Intro
2. She Wolf
3. Show Me What You Got
4. Move Your Body
5. She's Dangerous
6. To Be Young
7. Doing It
8. Blood On Your Hands
9. Don't Stop
10. Carry On
11. Ride Into The Night
Label: Century Media Records
Band websites: MySpace
