Frank Turner announced his next North American tour. I glanced through the list, and there was nothing within a reasonable drive for me. Dammit. I mentioned to my fellow fans that there was nothing close enough to me, and that since I would be taking a week's vacation to Houston, TX, I wouldn't really be able to afford another trip to catch him. Then one of said friends pointed out this little fact that I overlooked: one of Frank's stops on the tour IS Houston, TX!! So why not kill two birds with one stone? I had decided on Houston for my vacation because my best friend lives there. I shot her some texts to see if that week would work and if she wanted to go to the show. She said yes, and yes! So I bought our tickets, and they came in yesterday! It's official! On September 24th, I'll be seeing Frank Turner again with my bestie in Houston, TX! Now, my mission is to make a fan out of her. I believe I will send her a Frank mix soon. :D
So that's my news. Now, to give you my thoughts on my recent album purchases! I need to get these done now since I'm about to get SLAMMED with new albums in June. Can't fall too far behind.
I believe the last album I reported in on was AWOLNATION's Megalithic Symphony. My next purchases I actually made about a month or so ago, so these are a little late. I bought Halestorm's The Strange Case Of... and Sleigh Bells' Reign of Terror at the same time. Both were sophomore albums, and both were released this year (Sleigh Bells in February and Halestorm in April, I think). Let's start with Halestorm.
I have Halestorm's debut album, and I absolutely love it. It's one of those albums that I know every word to every song. I don't listen to Halestorm seeking deep, introspective lyrics or anything like that. They're just plain fun. Their sound is more of a mainstream rock than what I usually listen to. I use the term "mainstream" here NOT as a reference to public popularity, but as the actual genre. I love Lzzy Hale's voice and her "bad girl" lyrics. These are the things that made their debut album and their live shows so much fun. I was eagerly awaiting the release of this second album. However, I ended up being a bit disappointed. I don't dislike it, and I don't feel like I wasted my money. It's just not the homerun that the first album was. I've been having difficulty describing what I feel is different about this one. I guess it just doesn't stand out as much to me. Musically, many of the songs sound like so many others out there already, and the lyrics feel a little less inspired. As I said before, when I think of Halestorm, I don't think of deep lyrical meaning, but the first album at least felt a little more personal to me. These sound a little more forced. Example: "Welcome to the nightmare in my head/Say hello to something scary/The monster in your bed/Just give in and you won't be sorry/Welcome to my other side/Hello, it's Mz. Hyde." I don't know...that just sounds more... "average" or "typical" to me than some of my favorite choruses from the first album ("What were you expecting?/Another lullaby?/Are you kidding?/You must be high/You must be high/Cause it was just one kiss"). Maybe it's the funny factor. Their first album had a sense of humor and a level of sarcasm that isn't present here. Yeah. I feel like that nails it pretty well. It's not that it's totally absent though. Songs like "I Miss the Misery," "You Call Me a Bitch Like It's a Bad Thing," and "American Boys" resemble what I loved about the first album.
Something else that I felt was considerably different about this album were the ballads. The ballads from their first release featured a more serious side to the "bad girl" image that Lzzy seemed to be going for ("I'll tear you down/I'll make you bleed eternally/Can't help myself from hurting you and it's hurting me/I don't have wings/So flying with me won't be easy/Cause I'm not an angel"). Now, we find that the subject matter of the ballads has shifted over to more traditional topics of being a girl in love ("I am beautiful with you/Even in the darkest parts of me/I am beautiful with you/You make it feel the way it's supposed to be/You're here with me/You show me this and I believe/I am beautiful with you"). The only ballad here that I really like is "Break In," and I'm still not totally in love with it. There's also a duet on the deluxe edition of the album with Sixx: A.M.'s James Michael called "Private Parts" that isn't too bad.
My favorite song on the album is definitely "Rock Show." It has a fun beat, and lyrics that I know entirely too much about: loving concerts, having to be in the front row, coming alive with the music. Deep and transcendent? No. Hella fun? Yes.
I like the album, but I'm not in love. Top 5 tracks:
1. "Rock Show"
2. "I Miss the Misery"
3. "American Boys"
4. "You Call Me a Bitch Like It's a Bad Thing"
5. "Break In"
I think I'll break these up into different posts. I'll get to work on gathering my thoughts on the new Sleigh Bells album!
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