Band: Blessed By A Broken Heart
Release: Feel The Power
Release Date: 24th January 2012
Glam metal band Blessed By A Broken Heart are one band that just keep on amazing me as the years go on. I remember being a rebellious teenager where rock n roll controlled my life, and ‘Move Your Body’, a timeless BBABH classic, was the ultimate MySpace profile song. Remember how you used to judge how cool a person used to be their profile song? Oh the days!
Years have passed and a lot has changed. The fashion sense – I used to wear one red converse and the other black, for example – and now MySpace is just a stone in mudded water and Facebook is the place to be; but one thing hasn’t changed, this band is still awesome!
Their latest album ‘Feel The Power’ is a prime example of how a band can adapt to what is cool here and now, and what an album! The climatic intro to opening track ‘Deathwish’ makes you sit on the edge of your seat in excitement for the beat to kick in and when it does, all hell breaks loose. Grab your hair brush ladies as this song with it’s fast raunchy riffs and sing-along chorus’s will make you want to leap out of your seat and jump around on your bed like a child.
Second track ‘Shut Up And Rock‘, is a classic anthemic tune with a reckless amount of guitar riffs that blast through your speakers. This song features Dallas Taylor of Maylene And The Sons of Disaster on guest vocals which works great alongside BBABH front man Tony Gambino; the duo make an excellent vocal team. The throaty lyrics shout a whole heartedly party anthem from start to finish, with a powerful guitar solo in between.
‘Love Nightmare’ is a heavier track with elegant guitar solos but still has the sing-along chorus and gang vocals that add the glam to this metal band. You can really hear the 80s influence in this track and it shows that even though they are a modern band, you can still keep it fresh and old school at the same time.
The glam factor really comes to life again in ‘Forever’, sounding like a clash of Dragon Force with a old school Van Halen feel. This song is a massive fist punching power ballad.
Front-man Tony Gambino says: “The whole band is still obsessed with the ’80s, and that’s bled into our lifestyles. It’s not just when we’re on tour: We all kind of dress ’80s; we still have mullets. It’s become part of our lives. On the last album, we used more of the cheesy side of the ’80s, and this album we used a little more of the mature side. It’s a little less fluff, a lot less cheese, a little more serious. We’ve kind of gone a little more classic metal and heavy rock ‘n’ roll. It’s real organic how it all came together. We’re not in this to follow the trends—we’re in it to do what we love.”
The party in your head continues over the next few tracks with ‘Thunderdome’ and ‘Holdin’ Back For Nothing’ keeping up the fast pace of the album, before slowing it down to the gentle pianos of ‘I’ve Got You’. This is a beautiful song that plays on the heart strings and capture’s a delightful love story that everyone can relate too.
Then it’s back to the party with ‘Rockin’ All Night’, probably the most glam song on the album. ‘Scream It Like You Mean It’ adds a more electronic twist, perhaps a little unexpected but nevertheless a cool notion to explore.
‘Skate Or Die’ is another anthemic song with gang vocals, whereas ‘Innocent Blood’ brings you a heavier sound, with that slight Dragon Force influence yet again and a small Avenged Sevenfold likeness.
They finish off the album with ‘Sleepless Nights’, a track that brings its listeners that one final sing-along tune; another sandwich of anthemic lyrics and head banging beats.
Overall, this is a great party album with fantastic songs, which you can tell the band have worked really hard on. Definitely worth checking out readers!
Reviewer: Louisa Smith
