The opening hooks on the record's title track set the stage for what can only be described as a glorious outing brimming with creativity and confidence. Aftershock follows with it's instant groove and Hess's layered vocals, borrowing pages from Def Leppard and Journey, while at the same time devising something new. You can feel the rhythm section throughout this project which is manned by Mike Vassos on bass and Creighton Doane on drums. Some bands would cherish to have a few of these tracks on one album, whereas HS has an entire album filled with them. Pick a song, and it's likely a radio friendly single.
Such is the case on Searching For Meaning. This outfit shuns the melodic rock by numbers approach. Instead, there are gentle shades of pop and modern rock. A great example of this would be on The Death of Me, with it's cranium occupying chorus and it's slightly darker musical refrains. Hess's desperately urgent vocal delivery adds an element of drama without being droning or cliche. Mother of Invention comes closer to a melodic rock power ballad with it's ginormous hook and Hess's soul stirring lyrics. Peter Lesperance adds a perfect guitar solo. No Man's Land departs some from the larger wall of sound for a slightly sparse rocker that fills in off and on with large guitar lines. This music dances on the edge of progressive rock while retaining it's fluent melodic prowess.
In The Unknown just feels like an accessible hit record from any other time period. It's intro set's up a song you can instantly sing and feel. Upon hearing this you might experience a heavy heart as you remember a time when music like this had a home on rock radio. Riot In My Head contains some distinctively progressive guitar leads which buoy a song that sounds like nothing else you've ever heard. Hess typically wrecks the chorus (in a good way) on almost every song which further implants this music into your subconscious. The guitar solo is another delicious add-on. No Me Without You is a Harem Scarem style power ballad. A tune with more air and less guitar but haunting and completely in line with the material on this record. Fire-Gasoline relies on some very creative guitar riffs to get it's point across while its melody takes a hard progressive turn with bursts of drama, but still skirting the dreaded doom rock format. Harry Hess's voice is it's own unique instrument and on it's own it elevates the originality of this music. Swallowed By The Machine concludes this collection of near perfect rock music as a possible warning regarding technology or political ideology or even war.
Harem Scarem started their career at the beginning of the grunge apocalypse and suffered greatly because of it. After 30 years this level of creativity has only been maintained by a handful of bands. Their passion for writing note combinations that have yet to be heard, coupled with lyrical themes that are provocative and complimentary, is nearly unprecedented. It's hard not to love what this band represents. They are not some melodic rock Johnny come lately. They are the encyclopedia Britannica of perfectly executed melodic rock with many challenging twists and turns. And after 30 years this band still deserves a hearing, no matter what the music industry says.
Album rating 9.9
Change The World gets released on March 6th, courtesy of Frontiers Music.
Fantastic band from up in my neck of the woods (Toronto or nearby environs!). They've been quietly doing their thing for nigh-on-thirty
ReplyDeleteyears and are probably most famous in such exotic locales as Germany and Japan. Plus, they've certainly covered many brands of melodic and
hard rock throughout their lengthy career. Additionally, there was
their brief detour into "Alt Rock" in the early Aughts under the band
name Rubber, complete with their faithful take on that classic Squeeze
track "Another Nail In My Heart". (Well worth seeking out, for the uninitiated).
I was certain you were a fan of these guys. I'll have to check out that song you mentioned.
ReplyDelete