Album Review: “Into The Wild Life” by Halestorm

Three years ago, I did a review for female fronted rock band Halestorm’s second album, “The Strange Cases Of..” and it’s still one of my most viewed posts ever. I’ve been meaning to do this review since the album was released but I like to take my time analyzing every part of an album now. Halestorm released their third album, “Into The Wild Life” early last month. I have been looking forward to it since I heard they were actually working on new stuff. After hearing the first single, “Apocalyptic” I was immediately ready for the new album. I put out a tweet saying how good the song was and you’re never going to believe who tweeted me. Lzzy Hale herself and I didn’t even add the little “@” after her name or the band’s and I still got a tweet back! It was honestly the best day ever! If you’ve never heard of Halestorm before, you must be living under a rock if you haven’t! The band consists of Lzzy on vocals, guitar, and piano. Her brother Arejay on drums. Joe is the lead guitarist and Jay is bass guitar.

The album is totally different from their past records, this one seems to be more chill, almost bluesy in certain songs. I don’t this to sound weird, but it has a hippie essence to it. It’s just very interesting to me! The first song to start it off is called “Scream” and I love how this song has a slow intro to it and it kind of eases you into the album. I love the soft “oh oh ohs” at the beginning and I thought it would be a little bit heavier, but I kind of like how it’s not too! I love how at the end it gets softer in the riffs and Lzzy’s vocals. At the end of every song just eases you into the next one and I absolutely LOVE that! It’s like they all belong together and create one song! The next one starts out soft in the guitars and vocals, it’s called “I Am The Fire” and this was recently released as a single, but thought it was too slow and chill so I didn’t really like it, but now I do! The third song is a little bit heavier and its called “Sick Individual” and it was one of like three songs that I tried to picture of how it sounded and I was half right. It sounds like a true Halestorm song as far as lyrics go, but the sound is more mellow like the first song.

Next up is a song called “Amen” and I fucking love this song! Yes, I cursed! You know I really love a song when I do that! I really love the lyrics of this one than the actual sound which is interesting because you know I hardly do it that way! It’s another Halestorm type of song, it’s a little crazy but in a good way! After this wild song is their ballad that I found to be truly beautiful. It’s called “Dear Daughter” and it’s one that every girl or woman who has a daughter needs to listen to. The sound is not the ideal Halestorm song, it does have a guitar solo in all but it mostly uses a piano like their song “Break In” and at the end of this song has a very nice and gentle guitar, electric guitar, you can clearly hear an organ to drums play to the next song and I think this one is another favorite and I love the sound of it, it’s so chill. This one is called “New Modern Love” and it’s hard to pen point what I like the most about it. I actually love dancing to this one! That’s the first time I’ve ever said that before! “Mayhem” is the one song that I’ve been hearing about since summer 2014, people were talking about it because the band was performing it during their concerts and I forced myself to stay away and wait to hear a better quality of it. I ended up waiting to hear the song for basically six months but it was SO worth it! The song is flat-out awesome! A little mayhem never hurt anybody!

The next batch of songs were apart of the wondering game of how they were going to sound like the week before the album was out! “Bad Girl’s World” just sounds like it could sound like a heavier female version of James Brown’s “It’s A Man’s World” does it not? And I’ll be honest it does have the slow melody factor to it. I honestly wanted it to be heavy, but I love it this way too! It’s not bad, but just not my favorite right now! With the words such as “Gonna Get Some” you ultimately think it’s about sex or on the lines of that at least! It sounds like a heavy rock song and I don’t normally like sexual based songs but I will love the hell of them if Halestorm wrote them! I don’t know how that works but I’m not complaining! After this is another slower ballad, “The Reckoning” is a song that I got wrong sound wise and I have yet to figure out if I like it or not. The first single “Apocalyptic” is next and it’s another fucking awesome song! I’m really addicted to it! I know every word and will sing as loud as I can!

The last two songs are next. First up is a song called “What Sober Couldn’t Say” and I don’t know why but I thought this one would sound a little country, I actually wanted it to sound like a slower country-rock song. They went on tour with Eric Church, it could happen! Unfortunately it doesn’t sound like I wish it had and so I don’t really like this one. It’s got an interesting sound to it so maybe I’ll change my mind later on. The last song of the standard edition of the album is “I Like It Heavy” and this one is pretty great! I’m really happy that out of all of the slower songs on the record, this is somewhat heavy sounding! It’s another song that you could dance to! Towards 3:42 the tempo gets slower to almost disappears and it’s just Lzzy singing on her own and it’s really beautiful! That’s how I like an album to end, nice and easy!

On the deluxe edition, there are two more songs but I’m not adding them onto this post! This album as a whole I would give it a 7/10, it’s got a LOT of softer songs than their last two albums combined. Not all of them are bad, but if you like your music pretty heavy, this may not be the one for you! Have you listened to their new album yet? What did you think of it?

Song Review: “Girl Crush” by Little Big Town

I like my fair share of country music, not a lot but just a enough!

I’ve heard a lot of different things about this song. Radio stations basically refusing to play it on the air, all because of the damn title. I never wanted to listen to it unfortunately. Even after all the reports and other country artists trying to show their support for the group and the track. And then a couple of weeks ago, I was listening to the Halestorm in studio interview and performance on the Sirius XM Octane channel. They were there talking about their new album and performing new and old songs acoustically. They also managed to do an acoustic version of this song too. I was half tempted to change the channel but I talked myself out of when I heard the first line and by the middle of it I was angered because people are freaking out about what they think it’s about and it’s not even close to it!

In a way, I can understand that people would look at it with a funny look because the group consists of two males and two females, and the girls are the ones actually singing and saying the words like “I want to taste her lips, yeah cause they taste like you..” It sounds a little dirty, but I’ve heard the male country singers get a little dirtier and yet I hardly see people freaking out about that! I don’t know if it’s because I see the male singers use more metaphors or what, but when I was listening to it and hearing every word of the song I was like, “this is totally clever!” I have NEVER heard of a song in any genre of music create a song wanting to switch places with the other woman. Have that person’s body, hair, and scent and still be able to get the guy too! It’s just an interesting way to see things in a different perspective. I mean, every person has had those feelings of wanting to trade places with their crushes girlfriend/boyfriend. I’ll be honest I sure as hell have in the past!

People are too quick to judge honestly! And that sucks for the artists, because I’ve liked quite a bit of the band’s songs. They’ve pretty good! One thing that really bugs me is that if it sounded more like a pop song, nobody would be freaking out about it. It also seems like country music is a little too sheltered. Sometimes you can’t always use metaphors to tell a story and I mean, it is 2015. The world and its music has been changing, the rest of the country music lovers and stations in the world need to realize this too!

What do you think about it? Do you agree or disagree?

Rock Show At Plummer River Rally

“Little girl, there you are.
All the lighters looking just like stars.
Sing along, feel the sound.
Take a ride on the hands of the crowd.
Here it comes, the moment when you know you’ll never be the same again.
Power chord, see the light.
You found your place in the world tonight.

At the rock show.
You’ll be right in the front row.
Heart and soul, they both know.
It’s where we gotta be.
Yeah, at the rock show.
Getting high on the solo.
So what if it’s crazy.
That’s gonna be me.” – Halestorm

If you heard my first post and found out that I totally skipped out on talking about the awesome concerts at the rally, I didn’t. I wanted to do something separate because for both nights I kept having one song playing through my head because well, it was fitting to how everything was working out for us as far as getting a good seat to watch everything happen on stage. Friday’s festivities included watching a band called 100 Proof, that played from 6:30 to 8pm. We got to their set late because I was still enjoying it though because it was good music, even though I was having trouble getting my eyes away from the awesome looking guitars. I have a weakness for guitars and I didn’t know I did until I started watching them. When we got up there, my friend Sammy asked me if I wanted to go up by the stage, I didn’t hesitate I nodded my head “yes” and she guided up there to the stage and I began to feel at one with the music. It was weird to be that close and feel your chest like it’s about to cave in and my wheelchair was slightly moving with strum of the guitars and bump of the drums. It was heaven.

Sammy stayed on my left, her boyfriend stayed behind her, my mom was behind me, and Mama was on my right side. I had my own little security guards around and trust me, I began to be thankful of this act of kindness later on in the night. I’ll explain that later. There was this nice lady that I think her name was Missy that was so sweet to me that she actually talked to me and my mom and asked questions about my disability. Surprisingly, not a lot of people really asked questions about my arms and/or feet, not to me at least. After the band finished the singer was out throwing beads to the women in the crowd. This lady Missy got the singer to not only throw the beads in his hands to her but also managed to talk him into getting a picture with me too. When he got off stage, he took a picture with me and even gave me a guitar pick and when my mom put the pick in between my toes he looked at me and said I should learn how to play guitar with it. After he left, my mom tried to take the pick and put it on my pinky finger because it had a small hole in the middle of it but it was too small for my finger. Which was interesting because it’s usually the opposite.

 

At 8pm, we had ourselves a good ole time. Mama and Sammy were talking about when we were discussing about the bands that were performing that night, that we should check out Bag Lady Sue. My mom and I thought it was a band and then I thought it was a weird name, but then after the first concert was over with, it was time for Bag Lady Sue and oh my god! I don’t know I’ve ever been so happy that both of my folks were behind me and not in front of me or besides me because her act was very prerogative, but nevertheless absolutely hilarious. I told my friend Sammy that it was just a little bit weird for me because I was understanding a lot of the stuff she was saying and in the back of my head, I was thinking I wonder what my dad thinks of me hearing all of this. Like Mama said, it ain’t like I’ve never heard of any of the stuff she was saying. I had the sex talk a few years ago and I definitely know more back then especially when she starting talking about bondage and stuff, it was like a mixture of embarrassment and my stomach hurt from laughing so much. The act was just different, especially since she started off in this old women get up first, kept getting drunk with the crowd as they were giving her all kinds of alcohol and then slowly undressed in front of us. She was amazingly sweet and totally somebody that I would go see about a hundred times. On Saturday, she came back and did her act again and I got to meet her. She signed she asked me how I spelled my name and signed a picture and T-shirt for me. She immediately leaned down and gave me a hug and when she found out I did things with my feet, she kissed my left foot three times and then signed it. That has never happened before in my life!

This nice couple a few tents/campers over from us and one of the first people we met on that first day, made these awesome balloon hats. It was a little weird because Sammy came up to us while we were in line to meet for Bag Lady Sue and I heard something about somebody wanting to borrow me. As soon as we got done with meeting her, this sweet couple Larry and Barb came up to us and put this very large but awesome balloon hat that I actually like, I wouldn’t be surprised if it freaked the shit out of me in the next few nights, but that’s okay! I’d share the one with Barb and I but I don’t know how she’d feel about being on my blog at the moment. If I hear anything, I’ll post it later in the week as an extra picture. After this I ended up going back up to camp and one of our other neighbors talked to my parents and somehow gave me one of his necklaces. Mama and Sammy actually brought a baggie of their beads that they’ve gotten from other rallies and they reuse them (which is smart) and let me wear two of the purple ones and a red one too. I ended up getting another blue necklaces during the concert Saturday night from another woman in the crowd. I’ve just got to say I’m pretty happy I had all these beads and I didn’t even have to take off my shirt to get them.

Around 10:30, as the last second to last band of Friday night was finishing, the air started to get very cool. We knew that we had a chance of rain/storms after midnight. Mama ended up having to tell me that we needed to go back up to the camp as we were set up on a hill and the grasses gets very slick when its wet. Of course, I didn’t want to go but before we left I kept thinking in my head of being optimistic and picking my battles so I went back up to the canopy. We stayed up there for several minutes, put on sweatshirts and jackets on before my mom decided that we were going to go back down there as the rain was skipping us. We got down there in the middle of sexy body contest, it was the guys turn. It was down to last three guys and I was just feeling a bit uncomfortable but yet so glad that it was my mom that went down there to the stage with me and not my dad. We had another band come up, I don’t remember what they were called but I could not take my eyes off their guitarist. Dear lord, he was SEXY! Everybody thought the singer was hot, and here I was about to go insane over this dude. Too bad we couldn’t get a good enough picture of him while we were at it.

After it was over, it was time for the ONE Metallica tribute band to start. I, of course didn’t know what to expect but I was hoping my neck was going to be on my good side as it was already hurting after the first two bands of the night. I’m also not that big of a Metallica fan either. My mom and dad have tried, hell even I’ve tried to listen to them. I think the songs I did enjoy hearing were “Fade To Black,”  “Master Of Puppets,” The Memory Remains,” and of course “Enter Sandman.” Nothing could really be out of ordinary until they came out and I thought I was going to melt into a puddle right there. The bassist did the growls and I was hooked instantly, even if I didn’t know the words of the songs I still enjoyed it. My neck got on my nerves but thank god for headrests. I kept having to lean back into it but then I started to wonder if the headrest was the reason why it was hurting in the first place. Anyways, these guys were genuinely sweet guys. The stage was pretty large, it had a half round part to it where the three of them could get up close with us and this proved to be a good thing for me as the lead singer Shane came around and did his solos over by me FOUR times. They hadn’t been on stage for probably 15 minutes and when they got into the third song, I had my little pack of people around me again and the lead singer sat on the edge of the stage so I could watch him do the solo and then gave me a guitar pick that he used during the solo. They all stood above me at one point of their performance and then some towards the middle of it the drummer gave me his drum and then some crazy dude decided he wanted to go crowd surfing right by us and I didn’t even know what was going on at first all I saw was a bunch of hands over my head and Sammy completely my view of the right side. I didn’t freak out or anything but I was for sure the dude was going to fall backwards but he didn’t. Thank god they tossed him to the other side.

On Saturday night, we heard another band before the main band of the night and why the park drastically got bigger from the day before Warrant came on. They actually did two songs that I knew and the weird part it took me a bit to figure out what song they were doing and then it dawned me and I could not control myself, my poor mom was thankfully behind me only because there was a topless woman besides me on the left side. Both women were extremely nice despite that and surprisingly I was actually comfortable sitting right beside her until she kept drinking more and more, then she turned into a huge pain the ass and her boyfriend or husband wasn’t helping out at all. Anyways, the song that they played I knew was My Darkest Days’ “Porn Star Dancing” and there was a dude with some gnarly sideburns or a beard, who knows what the hell it was. He did Ludacris rapping. I was utterly impressed and then they did “Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy” a couple of songs afterwards and sadly I only knew the chorus to it. After they left we had another sexy body contest and it was the boys turn again, this time we got to see the whole thing and it was much more enjoyable this time because I knew what was going to happen but I did not think it would happen right front of me and the poor dude fell right in between the space between the stage and the wooden part were the security and photographers walked around, he was again he got up again and was still crazy as ever. Unfortunately he didn’t win and I thought that was bullshit because we were loud as crap for him too. At 11pm, and some technical difficulties with the mics, Warrant came out and I was less than pleased. So was my mom, the singer was good and they sounded good but they weren’t very open with the crowd I thought. I only knew the last song they played and it was “Cheery Pie” and I did enjoy hearing that, but other than that it wasn’t all that good, plus it was a short set too. They started at 11pm and ended at midnight. What the hell? So that was my first little concert review for you.

Music To Die By

There is a YouTube clip of the guys of Sixx:A.M. being asked this question, and it literally took them about 20 minutes to answer it. Three dudes with different tastes. Nikki asked if James would live or die on this desert island? James said it would be music to die by. At the end of them making jokes, and literally thinking about it. Which I am trying to rack my brain to figure out what I’d choose. If anybody has looked at “Music” tab at the top of my site. The first one underneath it is a tab called, “Favorite Albums” so I can chosing three albums from that list as my three albums to die by.

Oh, this is difficult. Now I understand why they having such a rough time with picking out just one album. No wonder they ended up with four. Anyways, I think my first would have to be Blood by In This Moment. I’ve listened to it from start to finish and it’s got this haunting sound to it. It would be a perfect album to have if you’re going to die on a desert island. Maybe you’ll get lucky and your spirit will stay around the island and everybody who goes on the island will be your victims? Second album will be a bit more mellow, and A Thousand Suns by Linkin Park is calling my name. Especially the songs “Iridescent” and “The Messager” so slow and sweet. But I like those two songs, so maybe that’s not a good choice. Okay, that’s unofficial if I’d use that album or not.

The other album that is fighting for second place comes from my morning so forgive me. I can’t give up on my Backstreet Boys. So I’m thinking their album that came out in 2001 called The Hits would actually be a perfect second album to die by. Knowing me, I’d die alone so I’d might as well depress myself to the death with some BSB love songs. I’ve not only given hope for my love life but my life in general. How weird is this, guess what just came on my iPod? Yeah, Backstreet Boys. They were my first music loves so they might as well be one of the last things I’ll ever listen to. Okay, last but not least. I think Halestorm deserves this spot. Their album The Strange Cases Of… is such an amazing album. I cannot get enough of it. I love it to be pieces. I love Lzzy’s voice. So I think that would be my last album. These are the albums I’d die by.

Song From Five Bands

Song challenge for the day was supposed to be pick a song from your favorite band. Since I couldn’t make up my mind. I’m just going to list five songs by five different bands. I am not responsible if the songs make you cry, I am just saying. (:

I love Halestorm. I can listen to their album about a hundred times and not get tired of it. I am so obsessed with it! This was my first song that I listened to, besides the ones that came on the EP. I heard this song on Octane and could have cried through it. I am completely in love with this song. I love how it sounds, the lyrics, and gah! The whole song just melts my heart into a big puddle. I did not think I’d ever like a song this, but Lzzy switched it all up for me.

Another song I heard for the first time on Octane. I had always loved Symphonic Metal but I had a small break because I didn’t want to get my heart set on a genre where not a lot of bands were in, like in that category. After I got into Within Temptation, hearing this song and a few others. I was happy to know there were more bands that were like them. The fact that there isn’t any here in the States, really sucks. Originally this song wasn’t my first choice. I want to use lyric videos, but the song I wanted to use has already been posted in a past post.

I think all three of these songs I first heard them on Octane. It’s a good radio station. Since I didn’t have a FFDP song on my last post. This one had to go here. I love this song, the band is completely insane, but in a good way. Everybody thinks I’m a bit weird considering I listen to them like everyday. I’m not that stuck into them. If I was really stuck to them, this would be the original challenge of one song by one band. I couldn’t choose from all of the bands I listen to, so there.

I love In This Moment. They are freaking amazing! I actually had to go looking for this song. I heard Kayla Riley on Octane talking about being released online and I went looking about an hour later and actually found it. I am seriously obsessed with this song. I cannot wait to get my toes on this new album of their’s hopefully next week. I’m going to have to do some seriously begging, but it will be so worth it. After I heard this song I literally thought to myself, Maria and Chester Bennington of Linkin Park should do a “Shut up” scream challenge to see which one is the loudest.

Speaking of Linkin Park, I love them too! They were my first rock band to get into and have almost every album by them. I have more LP albums than Backstreet Boys. I’m only missing the Live In Texas and LPU CD’s. Since I’m not a LPU I’m not too worried about those. Even though I’m not as into LP like I use to be, they never really go away. I still get excited everytime they release a LPTV episode on YouTube, like yesterday I got so excited I could have made somebody giggle because of how goofy I was acting. That’s what they do to me.