Album Review: Halestorm - Everest
Reviewed by Tim Finch
For a number of years Halestorm have been working their socks off, touring constantly, producing top notch material and supporting some of the biggest bands in the world. Always plugging away establishing themselves with a good footing before taking the next big step. The question has been when will they make this step? Of late the Iron Maiden tour, the commanding performance at Back to the Beginning and the announcement of their own headline arena tour would all suggest the time has come for the step to be taken.
Prior to the arena tour, which hits the UK in November, the band first release their sixth studio album, ‘Everest’ via Atlantic Records.
The album kicks off with Arejay’s barrage of thunderous drums on ‘Fallen Star’, however the pace is not maintained. Lzzy’s vocals kick in and calm things down before Arejay once again rears his head. It’s a melding of pace, tone and melody, a juxtaposition of a storm alongside the more serene. It highlights the bands ability to mix things up and from the off it leaves the listener wondering what comes next.
The album’s title track keeps things moving along with a dark undertone, of which we’ve not seen from the band prior. Lzzy herself comments "We weave a tangled web of melancholy, frustration, anger, and the vast purgatory of love and love lost.”, which is a great way to look at this album. As the first third of the record passes, the sounds remain dark and haunting yet lyrically poignant. There are no “anthems" to speak of, just a band with the confidence to throw the rule book out of the window and do things their own way.
‘Rain Your Blood On Me’ is the nearest the first half of the album gets to a stadium rock anthem. The tow tapping, head banging beat keeps the heart pumping, Lzzy’s infectious chants of “Rain Your Blood On Me” have the listener singing along as it kicks off on its rip-roaring journey. Yet still they manage to mix in variations in pace to give you the feeling of riding a rollercoaster.
‘Darkness Always Wins’ was the first single released from this opus and revealed this different side to the band. Led by Lzzy’s immense vocal strength but backed by her brother, Joe and Josh; this song builds the emotion over five short minutes into a song that will no doubt have the fans in awe when it I splayed live later this year.
With ‘Everest’ Halestorm have not stuck to their guns, not used their tried and tested formula. They have instead broken the mould, brought a completely different perspective to their sing writing, with the resulting output both moving and uplifting at the same time. It’s a record that shows just how far the band have come, and gives a hint as to where they could go next.
