BLESSED BY A BROKEN HEART

Nearly three and a half years since the release of their sophomore 2008 album, 'Pedal to the Metal', Blessed By A Broken Heart are back with a new record and a new label. Gone is their deal with Century Media and also absent is a lot of the metalcore underpinnings in their music. With the cover art/photo of 'Feel the Power' looking like a movie fusion between 'The Terminator' and 'Mad Max' fashions, it seems their musical style has also regressed good and proper into retro-80s culture, drawing more inspiration from that decade's rock/metal than ever before. I'm not a great fan of pigeonholing music into discrete labels but shred-glam is a fairly apposite description of what's on offer here...with some ever so minor metalcore flurries (yep, they haven't completely abandoned the metalcore influence, rather it takes a compositional back seat this time around). Frontman Tony Gambino is quoted in press blurb as claiming: "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." Well, the cheese aspect is debatable as some will no doubt find this new album to be a smelly big lump of extra mature stilton (Gambino inadvertently refers to this himself by saying it's "mature"!) with its pastiched 80s riffage, melodiously predictable hooks and over-produced harmony vocals in big sing-along choruses. However, I do agree with him on the "serious" comment which manifests through some well-composed tunes that showcase the band's fine musicianship, notably with Sean Maier's technically accomplished soloing. And it can't be denied that 'Feel the Power' is a fun ride from start to finish with its mainly up-tempo pace and melodic ooze - kind of one of those album's it's probably cooler to express your hatred for but, actually, dare I say this...I actually rather enjoyed. You like competently played cheese flavoured with a hint of metalcore? Great, then you'll enjoy this too.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Rude Records

Album

FEEL THE POWER

Review by Mark Holmes

RUNNING TIME:

48:59

RELEASE DATE:

24th Jan 2012

TRACK LISTING

1) Deathwish; 2) Shut Up And Rock!
3) Love Nightmare; 4) Forever
5) Thunderdome
6) Holdin' Back for Nothing
7) I've Got You
8) Rockin' All Night
9) Scream It Like You Mean It
10) Skate or Die
11) Innocent Blood
12) Sleepless Nights

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Canada

"...shred-glam is a fairly apposite description of what's on offer here...with some ever so minor metalcore flurries..."