Halestorm really impressed me with their self
titled 2009 debut album as they have very addictive
songs and it’s definitely a very distinctive
sound. They are one of the best modern day female
fronted rock bands today as singer Lzzy Hale has
many different edges to her voice; not many girls
could pull off Lady Gaga then go straight to Guns
N’ Roses so I’m very impressed!
This covers EP has been released to keep the bands
fan base interested in them as they do more touring
as there won’t be another Halestorm album
till later on so this is just to tide people over
until the new material comes. The songs on this
album are a very strange selection and from completely
different genres; this didn’t stop the band
taking them and making them all their own.
“Slave To The Grind” is bloody quick,
quicker than anything Halestorm have written themselves
so when they prove they can handle it they prove
themselves as very talented musicians. Only Critique
I have about this cover is that it’s the
song on the album that’s the least Halestorm
sounding in the way that they didn’t make
it their own as well as some of the others.
They come into their own with songs “All
I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You” and “Out
Ta Get Me” mostly because these particular
songs have the most room for improvisation and
fit to Halestorm’s sound the best. “All
I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You” is a female
sang song as it is and is fairly light; the band
have took it added Lzzy’s vocals to it and
some heavier guitar work and made it a song more
like one of their own like “Bet U Wish U
Had Me Back” or “Familiar Taste of
Poison” both of which are the same style
they’ve applied to this track. “Out
Ta Get Me” with Lzzy’s vocals is tremendous!
What a cover, it’s hard to cover Guns N’
Roses when your band already plays rock music
but here we have just the right amount of stylistic
inclusion without taking away the unique edge
the original version had; beautifully done you
can tell it’s Halestorm right from the start.
“Bad Romance” and “Hunger Strike”
are songs I don’t normally listen to, these
covers though are great! Turning Lady Gaga into
gritty rock music? The novelty is enough to draw
everyone in and listen to it then the fact its
brilliant will make it stick. “Hunger Strike”
is already a very sweet soft song as it is, so
when this band took it and put their stamp on
it the song remained sweet and soft with Halestorm’s
gritty rock edge added to it at effective parts
during the song.
One song I dislike however is their Beatles cover
“I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”
it just doesn’t fit with their style at
all and puts a downer on the end of an awesome
EP, musically its great but it’s not really
Halestorm more just a group of musicians playing
a Beatles song.
It’s done its job, it’ll tide me over
till some new material comes along and it can’t
come soon enough!
4/5
Review by James Webb
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