Label: Atlantic Records
Review by Warren Mayocchi
“Into the Wild Life” takes Halestorm into familiar and new musical territory. The band continue to rock hard, however this album features notable additions to their previous material. There is a wider exploration of the rock sound, perhaps paying tribute to past masters.
Every time that I have listened to the first couple of seconds on “I Like it Heavy”, I think that Deep Purple‘s “Smoke on the Water” is about to begin, but an anthem about rock music continues which reminds me of “I Love Rock n’ Roll” by Joan Jett and “We Will Rock You” by Queen. There is a short, vocal only, soul style song at the end of that track that continues the lyrical theme – ‘If there’s a church it’s rock and roll’. Later in the album, “What Sober Couldn’t Say” has a 60’s/70’s keyboard sound in a short musical passage that begins, and is at times within the song. The lead vocal is almost country rock, and there are also backing vocal touches reminiscent of the era as well.
Moving squarely into the 80’s, there are many songs on the albums that remind me of bands from that time, in particular Bon Jovi and Whitesnake. There are also a few ballads on this album, possibly too many for the band’s regular fan base. A couple of these and industrial rock elements bring the band into more recent musical territory. On “Dear Daughter” a piano and Lzzy bring a P!nk like ballad into the mix. The music here reminds me of many bands, however make no mistake, this is Halestorm.
Lzzy Hale has a great voice and here the band allow us to hear dimensions of that voice that we have not heard on recordings before. It has been there, but just not presented as it is here. This is an album to enjoy for what it is, not what you expect it to be. Perhaps this delving into various time zones is the outcome of covering some of the songs that they like on their “Reanimate”EPs? My feeling is that replacing one or two of the ballads with songs more like those on past albums would have been presented us with a more natural progression. This is another great album from Halestorm, just expect it to be different from what you have heard on previous releases.
Rating – 81/100
Tracklist
- Scream
- I Am The Fire
- Sick Individual
- Amen
- Dear Daughter
- New Modern Love
- Mayhem
- Bad Girl’s World
- Gonna Get Mine
- The Reckoning
- Apocalyptic
- What Sober Couldn’t Say
- I Like It Heavy
Line Up
- Lzzy Hale – Vocals, Guitar
- Joe Storm – Guitar, Vocals
- Josh Storm – Bass, Vocals
- Arejay – Drums