Cole Hermer and the Ravens - Cole Hermer and the Ravens EP (AKA Quoth The Raven)

Cole Hermer and the Ravens – Cole Hermer and the Ravens (AKA Quoth the Raven)
2013, Cole Hermer

Cole Hermer is an 18 year old senior in high school.  In spite of that he might be one of the most convincing young heavy rock vocalists you’ve heard in some time.  With influences ranging from Axl Rose, Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley to Neil Young and The Black Keys, Hermer is able to surprise you at almost every turn.  Hermer’s songwriting is surprisingly supple for his age, reflecting the disaffection of modern youth as well as the pure joy of rock and roll.   After a number of years with bands such as Ultimate Concussion and Anathemas Blessing, Cole Hermer steps out into the limelight with his debut EP as Cole Hermer and The Ravens; a self-titled set alternatively titled Quoth the Raven.

Hermer plays homage to 1980’s heavy rock with “California Breakdown”, instantly inspiring thoughts of bands such as Poison, Guns and Roses and Cinderella, ripping up thoroughly vibrant and powerful sound in the process.  If someone had put out a song like this twenty years ago and it would be a chart-hogging monster.  “Exploitable” is cut from similar cloth, but with a darker, alternative edge.  This is radio for radio right now, and Hermer’s retro metal vocal style just raises the intrigue.  “Friends” is a different breed of song altogether.  Here Hermer is showing a softer, more pop oriented side while lamenting the rejection of ‘let’s just be friends’. “Maybe” is a melancholy, acoustic-guitar driven ballad with a distinct navel-gaze mentality. It’s a solid piece of songwriting that’s good romantic movie soundtrack material.  Hermer gets back into upbeat territory with “Teenage Creed”, a driven mid-tempo rocker with attitude and a memorable chorus.  The pacing here is a bit uneven, but Hermer is on to something here; the song gains intrigue as it bulls to its conclusion.

Cole Hermer and the Ravens offer up an interesting musical study with their self-titled EP.  Hermer refuses to be pigeonholed as a hard rock/heavy metal vocalist in spite of his rough edged sound.  What’s most surprising is how capably he handles the softer material. Everything on the EP is well-written and well-performed, although the pacing at times is a bit off.  This is a great start.  Cole Hermer seems to have what it takes to be a big time front man.  I am not sure if the current trade winds of popular music are in his favor, but with the right break Cole Hermer and The Ravens could be huge.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more at www.colehermer.ca.  

Review: Throwing Seven - Hope Forgets To Breathe

Throwing Seven - Hope Forgets To Breathe
2010, Planet LA Records

Los Angeles stalwarts Throwing Seven push their melodic power rock to the masses with the release of their debut album, Hope Forgets To Breathe. Regulars in clubs across Southern California, Throwing Seven create a sonically dense three-guitar sound and wrap it around emotionally impactful lyrics. Lead by the monomonous lead singer Jude, Throwing Seven looks to take things to the next level with Hope Forgets To Breathe, after spending the past couple of years playing major festivals including the Vans Warped Tour.

Hope Forgets To Breathe opens with "Push", a stripped down and tightly controlled Modern Rock anthem built around a compact arrangement, rapid-fire drumming and the needful vocals of Jude. "Push" has radio hit stamped all over it; the sort of song that can catch fire at the right time and get a lot of spins quickly. The bass player puts a funk stamp all over Push and carries it over into "Four For Free". "Four For Free" sounds a bit more typical of a modern rock band, but Throwing Seven sticks with the compact style, letting their musicality take precedence over volume or speed. "When The Lights Go Out" finds Throwing Seven retreating into more stereotypical sounds for their genre. The energy and originality of "Push" and, to a lesser degree, "Four For Free" falls by the way side. "Black Maria" restores the energy in a virulently angry track that's worth hearing.

"Saturday Night Soldier" finds Throwing Seven opening up with a more metal-oriented sound without giving up their compact, New Wave sound. The guitar sound is bigger, the drums faster and meaner, but Jude retains his Pop-metal credentials on a serious face-melting tune. "Let It Bleed" finds Throwing Seven amping up the energy in a serious guitar rock anthem worth paying attention to. Throwing Seven turns down the amps on the opening of "Lotus", building through the first verse into a full-bore rocker full of layered guitar and a highly variable rhythm section.

Throwing Seven creates exciting Rock N Roll on the surprising Hope Forgets To Breathe, building in enough rock credentials to survive in a market like LA but with enough musical heart to export their sound outside The City of Angels. Throwing Seven isn't the sort of album that truly breaks a band; it's more the one before that sets the band up to the breaking point. What Throwing Sevens do next is ultimately up to their creative process.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Throwing Seven at www.myspace.com/throwingseven or http://www.throwingseven.com/. You can download Hope Forgets To Breathe through iTunes. Hard copy CDs are available directly from the band at live shows. If you can't make it to a show but want the CD, message the band through MySpace. I'm sure they'll be happy to help you out.

Review: Jeff Litman - Postscript

Jeff Litman - Postscript
2009, Born Enormous Music

New York City singer/songwriter Jeff Litman was born in Minneapolis, and was devouring hard rock and metal songbooks by the age of ten. Litman went from Bon Jovi and Motley Crue to Metallica, Guns N Roses and Nirvana before becoming ensnared in the melodic Pop of acts such as Elvis Costello, The Beach Boys and The Beatles. Litman's next step was into classical music, entering a doctoral program before realizing that his true love lay in Rock and Pop. Litman began writing almost immediately for his debut album. The result, Postscript, promises Indie-Pop with big hooks, infectious melodies and a classic sense that universal themes of love and heartbreak always bring. Postscript is a breakup album, and Litman's refreshing honesty places the listener not so much in the role of observer but directly into reverie.

Postscript is a story within an album, following the rise and fall of a relationship, including the aftermath. It is written at a distance from the events that perhaps allow more perspective, but the raw emotional content is very real, if tempered by time. Postscript opens with Anna, a catchy song about unrequited love that will definitely get your toes tapping. A Beatles influence is very clear here and the backing vocals are superb. This is a complete song; a classic. Complicate digs into the emotional consequences of a breakup. It's a sunny tune full of regret and melancholy. Wife is a song that could put Litman on the Popular Music map; a marriage proposal in song. The gorgeous arrangement, including strings centers on acoustic guitar and Litman's voice. Don't be surprised if Wife gets licensed and recorded by other artists down the line. Either way the song is destined to become a wedding song of choice and is also likely to be co-opted for individual proposals over time.

From that emotional high Litman dips down to the emotional low of Everything You're Not; an upbeat, Beatles-inspired song of hopeful spite. Litman then shifts gears into full-on Rock N Roll in Detroit Layover. If you've ever been stuck someplace out of your control and just wanted to get home then this song will speak to you. It's very upbeat and danceable and has a classic sound that will appeal across genre lines. Postscript is one of those albums where it becomes difficult to pick a favorite song, but one of the contenders has to be Maine. Litman sings a duet with Kelly Jones on another song about going home. This is one of those songs that simply sounds perfect in presentation, and Jones has an amazing voice that complements Litman's perfectly.

Knock Me Down will get you up and moving. This active-rock song is presented in a brilliant arrangement with amazing vocal harmonies and a melody that won't quit on you. Postscript is another candidate for favorite song; it's a theatrical tune about the end and aftermath of a relationship. Postscript is stark and melancholy without being whiny, and is one of the better Pop songs written/released in 2009. Open Arms represents the bargaining phase of grief. He's willing to take her back temporarily for the joy of it even it means she'll rip his world apart all over again. Litman never begs during Open Arms but that's only a semantic justification. Open Arms shows a tremendous balance of lyrics, melody and arrangement in a wonderful pop tune that isn't far behind Postscript. Let You Go chronicles the Acceptance phase of loss with a song that sounds like it was heavily influenced by Elvis Costello. Litman closes out with It Wasn't Me. This epilogue is stark and honest and unfettered by sorrow. Litman sees everything from the distance and perspective of time with his healing mostly done; it's a fitting close.

There are albums you see coming from a mile away; the artist reputation, the cover art, the buzz all combine to create an understanding of what you're getting into. But every once in a while an album takes you by surprise. Jeff Litman's Postscript is in this latter category. Postscript is a brilliant display of songwriting and performance. The songs are subtle, nuanced and intelligently written and the album is an absolute pleasure from beginning to end. There isn't a poor song on the album, and Litman delivers each with an aplomb that grows from the intersection of artfulness and grace. Postscript is brilliant; a Wildy's World Certified Desert Island Disc. Make the time.

Rating: 5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Jeff Litman at http://www.jefflitmanmusic.com/ or www.myspace.com/jefflitman. You can purchase Postscript as either a CD or download from CDBaby.com.

Review: Savio Rego - All I Want

Savio Rego - All I Want
2009, Savio Rego

Born in Bombay, India and raised in San Jose, California, Savio Rego knows a thing or two about the blending of cultures. Rego taught himself to play guitar at the tender age of 13, picking out the notes of Guns N Roses' Patience; just as he saw no boundaries in learning guitar; Rego knows no limits to his avenues of musical expression. Incorporating elements Jazz, Latin, Blues, Folk, Electronica and Trance into a charming pop framework is Rego's vibe, and he appears to have found something special on his latest album, All I Want. All I Want has been available on MySpace for about four months as of this writing and has already sold over 2,000 copies on word of mouth alone.

All I Want opens with Senorita, a Latin Jazz flavored piece of Folk/Pop featuring Rego's smooth vocals. Sung in both English and Spanish, it's a modern urban mix-tape must. The melody here is intriguing, but it's the guitar work that will get you on this one; Rego builds a stellar minimalist arrangement around a strong melody line and creates a bit of magic. On Be Mine, Rego comes across as sort of a Latin Dave Matthews; once again aiming for the mix tape stratosphere on a dreamy love song that will melt hearts. Rego sticks with the minimalist aesthetic he advanced on the opening track, highlighting his guitar skills and voice simultaneously. Miss You is a musical monologue spoken (or sung) to a loved one who is away from home. The musical structure doesn't change but there's a distinctive melancholy that comes through Miss You. This is the sort of song that Casey Kasem started his Long Distance Dedications for.

Muse gets a bit repetitive, reflecting a relentless desire. At times it sounds as if Rego is talking about a hypothetical woman, and at others he could be talking about the theoretical Muse. It's never 100% clear in the song. One issue that seems to be developing over the course of the album is a marked homogeneity in sound. Rego rarely varies from the sound, style or dynamic that he established with the first track. This makes for a very consistent sound across the disc but may also lead to a perception that all of his songs sound the same. Ditto Jamaican Queen, another minimalist acoustic-guitar based tune in that same soft dynamic. There's no discernable Latin feel here, but the Folk/Jazz elements are here to one degree or another.

By the time we get to Chai Time Rego himself must be tiring of the sound, as he engages an electric guitar with looped beats and synth to mix things up just a bit. The result is a New Age/Jazz styled instrumental you might here in a subtly lit coffee house or a doctor's office. It's a decent listen in terms of relaxation but doesn't display a great deal of originality or direction. Rego heads for the Blues on Moving On, the best all-around track on the disc. Rego's vocal dynamics still haven't changed, but there's more energy and vitality to this song than on anything that came before. Rego winds down with Love Me For Me (Solo), a song that sounds like it should be a standard. The vocal sound has been consistent throughout, and Rego returns home to the sound the carried him through most of the album for the closing track.

All I Want is a solid album, with a solid, consistent series of performances from Savio Rego. This is an album that may lose its luster with listeners after a while because the sound is so consistent throughout that if you're not listening carefully you may confuse on track for another. Rego is a talent, to be sure, but he would benefit distinctly from collaboration. All I Want is simply too monochromatic to retain deep interest. There are no nooks and crannies to dig into.

Rating: 2.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Savio Rego at http://www.saviorego.com/ or www.myspace.com/savioregomusic. You can purchase All I Want as either a CD or download at www.cdbaby.com/cd/saviorego2.

Review: Randy Stern - Give

Randy Stern - Give
2009, Heyday Records

Randy Stern’s resume is full of Indie Cred and even some big names. As the former singer/songwriter/guitarist of Brooklyn’s The Nerve, Stern gained significant respect and admiration in the New York City scene. He ultimately was invited to play in Bumblefoot’s (Guns N Roses) touring band for a 2005 jaunt through Europe. In 2006, The Nerve disbanded, and Stern began to pursue solo writing and performance. Putting aside the punk sound, Stern has striven for a more mature, subtle songwriting style. With the help of producer Hugh Pool (Patty Smith, Rufus Wainwright, Hubert Sumlin, The National), Stern has firmly established himself as a competent solo artist with his debut album, Give.

Give opens with Deeper And Deeper, a pop-oriented Americana tune with real potential. Better Days is a solid, Southern Rock tune that's steeped in the blues and Rock N Roll. Stern has a very pleasant sounding voice that works very well with the blend of Rock, Americana & Pop he purveys. The Night is a highly catchy and commercial sounding track that could garner some attention on the radio. My favorite track on the album is the R&B/early Rock gem The Only Woman; complete with walking bass line. Into Your Heart is the pre-requisite mix-tape offering, although this isn't your typical love ballad. Stern gets highly personal here, eschewing cliche in favor of honest emotion. The song is very touching and might even make a good wedding song for the right couple. Other highlights include Home, In The Midnight and Ain't Dead Yet.

Stern has a home grown style to his playing and singing that is refreshing. You'll hear shades of Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan and even Ryan Adams running through his song, but in the end Randy Stern isn't really like any of them. His is an original voice in a crowded field. Give isn't flashy, there are no big lights or whistles here, just good, honest music. Make sure you check out Randy Stern.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Randy Stern at http://www.randystern.info/ or www.myspace.com/randystern. You can purchase a copy of Give at www.cdbaby.com/randystern.

Review: One Step Away - One Decision

One Step Away – One Decision
2008, One Step Away

Andover, Massachussets quartet One Step Away has taken the Boston music scene by storm, winning the Boston Music Festival’s Alternative Rock genre in 2008. Led by the lyric rock lead vocals of Adam Carrington, One Step Away blasts away with a heavy rock sound that borders on Prog and 80’s hair-metal sounds with big guitar solos, big choruses and an arena-ready sound. Their debut release, One Decision, debuted in December of 2008, just seventeen months after the bands inception.

One Step Away opens up with In This Moment, a wonderfully musical and melodic hard rocker that contrasts the melodic musical chaos of Terrence Healy’s guitar work and the lyric nature of Adam Carrington’s voice. This is an incredibly dynamic rock song that will grab you by the shirt and won’t let you go until its done. Over The Edge is a big, bruising guitar rocker that sounds like Metallica with Slash sitting in. Run Away is a driving rock song that’s perfectly positioned for Modern Rock and Hard Rock radio formats. It’s the most blandly commercial song on the EP but still a pleasant listen. The Space Within is amazing introspective and reserved in comparison to the first three tracks, and displays some of the range One Step Away possesses.

One Step Away is a rising dynamic force in Boston. It’s easy to see how they could be the next big thing from the Boston scene to rise to national prominence. Time and sales will tell, but One Step Away looks to have a very bright future. One Decision is a great intro.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about One Step Away at www.myspace.com/1stepawayband or http://www.onestepawayband.com/, where you can purchase a copy of One Decision.

Review: Burn Halo - Burn Halo

Burn Halo – Burn Halo
2008, Rawkhead Records

Burn Halo front man James Hart is familiar to many Rock fans from his days heading up 18 Visions. When 18 Visions disbanded, Hart decided to pursue a musical project that encompassed his individual musical vision. Working with songwriter/producer Zac Maloy, Hart penned what would become Burn Halo’s debut. The album, also called Burn Halo, was scheduled to be released in early 2008 by Island Records, who unexplainably changed their minds, so Burn Halo will be released on Hart’s own imprint, Rawkhead Records on March 10, 2009. The recording features support from Daniel Adair (Nickelback), Chris Chaney (Jane’s Addiction) and Neil Tiemann (David Cook), with a special guest appearance by Avenged Sevenfold’s Synyster Gates.

Burn Halo opens with Dirty Little Girl, a rocking wall of sound with more life and hard edge in it than 99% of the stuff you’ll hear on the radio these days. This song might just be too hot for radio. Save Me is a huge guitar filled rocker that sounds like it’s a half step between 18 Visions and Metallica. The verses are heavy enough to please longtime fans and the chorus is commercial enough to break hard in Modern Rock and Metal formats. Here With Me has a little less of the slash and burn style to it, with Hart feeling out his pop sensibilities in very successful fashion. The most impressive thing about Burn Halo is the ability to rock hard but maintain a melodic pop mystique that is next to impossible. The best comparison I can think of goes all the way back to the glory days of Guns N Roses.

Every pop-metal album has a pre-requisite of at least one love ballad or one melancholy song about the one who got away. Too Late To Tell You Now fits in perfectly. This is perfect power ballad material with big guitar on the chorus, great harmonies and a cadence that will stick in listeners’ minds. So Addicted and Dead End Roads And Lost Highways are fairly typical Modern Rock fodder, although both carry Hart’s excellent grasp of pop timing and melody.

Lest you think Burn Halo is going soft, Our House is strong enough to rip it right off the foundations and may be the best overall song on the disc. Falling Faster revisits the prerequisite ballad requirement in one of the better power ballads you’re likely to hear in 2009. Anejo rocks in a frantic, pedantic fashion and has some amazing guitar work. Back To The Start is my favorite part of any hard rock album, when it occurs. A primarily acoustic tune that not only lets the melodic sense of the band shine through but also displays how truly talented the musicians are when all of the effects and distortion are stripped away. Burn Halo closes out with Gasoline, a melodic throwback to the sort of hair-metal anthems that dominated the airwaves in the 1980’s.

Burn Halo knows how to rock. James Hart has a wonderful melodic sense and an ability to craft these amazing pop songs with the hardest of edges. Breaking out from the safety of 18 Visions was a risk, and it was one well taken. Burn Halo looks to establish itself as one of the more talented rock outfits on the market. Burn Halo hits shelves on March 10, 2009. Look for this band, and album, to be everywhere in 2009.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Burn Halo at www.myspace.com/burnhalo. You can pre-order a copy of Burn Halo at Amazon.com.