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Charm City Devils' latest CD, Let's Rock 'N' Roll,
on Nikki Sixx's label Eleven Seven Music, is pure nostalgia,
recollecting of the days of classic rock and the power pop metal steam
of the '80s. Produced by the band's lead singer John Allen,
Let's Rock 'N' Roll is brimming with music from yesteryear,
locked in a time when MTV's Headbanger's Ball was playing metal bands
like Tora Tora and Dangerous Toys. Charm City Devils
never make a break for a more modern sound. On the plus side, they
stay pure to pop metal standards, but the album also grows stale very
quickly making the listener feel like they are in the middle of a
'80s pop culture flick like HBO's Beach Balls. The band's songs
are a product of pop culture, but not of 2009 - more like 1989.
Charm City Devils don't just revisit the power pop metal of the '80s,
they live it and breathe it as if it was the greatest invention ever
known to man. This is not to say that the band members are mediocre
at their playing. On the contrary, guitarists Nick Kay and
Victor Karrera are superb at creating blistering cyclones and
fearless expressions that bode well with Allen's raw vocal edges and
hoarsely textured timbres. The rhythm section of bassist Anthony
Arambula and drummer Jason Heiser fodder the steam from
the guitars to rise up and expand, canvassing the tracks in charred
soot and seething flames. The effects are impressive, but the one
and only track that could be the band's "Stairway To Heaven"
by Led Zeppelin or "Dream On" from Aerosmith
is their song "Almost Home." There is something real about
this song that strips off the band's power metal camouflage and digs
into their essence with lyrics like, "My father called me up
/ He said you better come home / He heard from the doctor / And I
don't think I can tell her on my own / He found a dark spot in your
mother's chest / I try to hold it all together / But I'm such a mess
/ All you lost / All you gain / Sometimes things just can't stay the
same." Where all of the other tracks seem like Charm City Devils
are just merely duplicating what has already been done, this is the
one song that breaks the mold and speaks of today instead of a distant
era.
Let's Rock 'N' Roll is a promissory statement, which the band
delivers but more in a way that reminisces of rock music's past over
living in the present. It's an album that pop metal fans will celebrate,
but other than "Almost Home," Charm City Devils have locked
themselves in an era that contemporary audiences have let go.
-Susan Frances
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