ALL AMERICAN NIGHTMARE
Hinder
Universal Republic Records
8.5-out-of-10
So you like your rock as just that, plain old solid, guitars and drums-laden rock. Well good for you. That's the way it should be.
But in a world where rock seems to have been beaten into so much gravel with smaller junks representing a lot of gimmicky approaches to the genre, it's often difficult to find something you can rock out to.
Thank goodness for bands such as Hinder.
You might have heard of them. They are after all arguably the biggest name band to be playing our fair city in years, with an Aug. 22 date upcoming. I was actually trying to recall the last band of Hinder's status, and frankly none come to mind.
Yes Trooper in its hey day was certainly as popular, and they were a huge draw at the recent Yorkton Exhibition, but like most bands rolling through here they rely on reputation and a catalogue of hits from a decade or two ago.
Hinder is still a band defining its career.
If All American Nightmare is an indication, Hinder has some rocking still to do.
This is a 10-cut offering and frankly every song is good, old-fashioned rock. The title-cut is a hit, as are several other of the harder pieces.
But what impresses is how Hinder can slow it down a bit and add a layer of emotion to the music. The Life is simply a classic in my books.
What Ya Gonna Do is another mood piece which impressed me completely. It is great to see rock bands can go beyond driving guitars, remain true to the genre and create wonderful music.
This is truly a must have. Grab it now.
Check it out at www.hindermusic.com
- CALVIN DANIELS
SELF-TITLED
All of the Above
Indie
6.5-out-of-10
All of the Above, the brother duo of Evan and Jared Cechanowicz, may be familiar to some having played 5th Avenue Cup & Saucer in Yorkton last October.
The duo heads back to the same venue Aug. 13, in support of their new self-titled disk.
Of added note they will be joined at the Cup & Saucer by Eden Rohatensky, a former Yorkton gal. She will be opening for All of the Above.
As for the new disk, All of the Above are purveyors of relaxed, acoustic-based, music that is somewhere right of folk and left of rock. It is poppish without the usual sugar rush associated with that style of music.
The result is music that is by near definition, easy to listen too, but can also be a fleeting thing in terms of whether you will commit any of the songs here to memory.
Now that isn't a bad thing. Sometimes you just want to relax and listen to some tunes, and you can spin a lot worse CDs than this one.
But the better CDs have songs you want to remember, that draw you back to put the CD on over and over. This really isn't that sort of CD.
I would though recommend attending the show. The brothers are at their best in a small, friendly venue.
Check it out at www.alloftheabove.ca
- CALVIN DANIELS
Past reviews are archived online at http://calmardan.blogspot.com/
