Review Summary: A more fun, but not perfect, follow-up to the debut.
Last year, I had the opportunity to see a band called Halestorm for the first time. I knew their songs by heart, but seeing them on stage I was more blown away than I had ever been by the group. Most bands I've seen these days don't bring the energy to their shows like this band. Brother and sister Arejay and Lzzy Hale play tight together, just as they did when they began writing music together when they were 13 and 10, respectively. Front woman Lzzy has a dynamic voice that can get anyone's attention, while Arejay plays his drum set in vein of John Bonham or Keith Moon. (No, that's not too bold of a statement. This guy can really play.) While of course the band is mainly focused on these two, guitarist Joe Hottinger and bassist Josh Smith play their instruments nicely and try their best to keep up with the Hales.
The Strange Case Of... is a step up from their debut, but it is not yet perfect. The songs here are stronger, the lyrics are slightly more mature, and the instrumentation still kicks ass. The record is more polished, and it surely does show. The first four songs kick things off right away with a bang. Fan favorite
I Miss The Misery is one of the early highlights, with its soaring vocals, catchy verses, and sing-along chorus. It's been featured on many commercials these past couple of years, and it's easy to see why the crowds love it. It's catchy, it's fun, and quite simply, it rocks.
Speaking of rocks, songs like
Love Bites (So Do I) and
Freak Like Me are moments of hard rock mayhem. Each combine Lzzy's growling vocals with dirty guitar riffs and pounding drums from Arejay to create great standout tracks. While the former's lyrics may look a little silly on paper (
"Don't listen to what you're girlfriend says, she reads those magazines" and
"I know a thousand ways to help you forget about her"), Lzzy sings them with such aggression and passion to steer them as far away from sounding like Taylor Swift as she can.
Freak Like Me is really just an overall anthem, with lyrics telling kids to "get of their ass" and if they don't necessarily fit in to accept who they are and enjoy it. I've heard it's about coming out to a rock concert and going nuts, but I feel with lyrics like
"Covered in black we lack the social graces" and
"This is no disease you don't need a cure" Lzzy is talking (or yelling) about being an outcast and being proud of it. That's my interpretation, anyway.
Sadly after the opening four tracks (
Mz. Hyde another good song about Lzzy's freak side), the album never really captures the energy it had at the beginning. This could be due to the fact that the band decides to put three ballads back-to-back-to-back. The first two actually resemble Taylor Swift, and I sometimes have to think about if I'm still listening to the same band or not. It's still Halestorm, though, and these ballads do start to grow on you, and the third one,
Break In, is actually pretty decent. I understand giving out a couple slower songs to calm down after the beating the listener just took from the opening quartet, but do we really need three mediocre ballads like these? The rest of the album is pretty average, but still pleasantly good hard rock, until we get to possibly my least favorite Halestorm song,
American Boys. The guitar licks in the song are superb, and the riffs are excellent, but they make it sound like one of those annoying country songs out there that all sound the same and never have anything new or pleasant to offer. I always end up skipping it when I listen to the album because of how long it sticks in my head, but luckily the album closes on a much better ballad
Here's To Us. Lzzy sings to her heart's content about just grabbing a beer and relaxing with friends, thinking about the good times. It's entertaining, it's mellow, and when that certain line comes up,
"If they give you hell, tell 'em go **** themselves, here's to us", how can you not feel good about anything and everything right then and there.
Halestorm's sophomore release finds the band trying new things, which is good because without experimentation where would bands like The Beatles have been? Halestorm are finally getting the recognition they deserve, and hopefully they can ride this train that's pulling the sick and twisted all the way to bigger and better things.
Recommended Tracks:
I Miss The Misery
Freak Like Me
Love Bites (So Do I)
Here's To Us
