This New Jersey band will undoubtedly be nominated in our best-of-year album list with THREE CHEERS FOR SWEET REVENGE. The band manages to mix metal, pop and softer rock with intelligence and truckloads of passion.

The opening track explodes into life after a few seconds of virtual silence. Helena is an epic love song with massive melody and a heavy rock vibe tinged with pop sensibilities. This should the band’s first single and is one of the most powerful rock songs heard this year. In fact it would stay in the charts for months… An ocean deep bass guitar and thrashed drums opens the next song, Give ‘Em Hell Kid, and it’s another stonking, rapid-fire heavy rock song that could demolish the charts. A rolling guitar riff opens the darker and highly original metal-tinged song, To The End. The guys are melody-sensitive and this song is yet another that begs to be let loose on the singles chart. By now you may be getting the picture… This album is chock full of heavy rock songs that lodge themselves in my head with their tunefulness and passion.

The pace and vibe quieten down substantially (for a while anyway) with yet another memorable rock song, You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison. It’s so often the case that USA rock bands slaughter their UK counterparts lyrically, and this band is no exception. But to this add immense distinction in a song that changes pace several times while grabbing my attention in the tightest vice. Fabulous.

I could go on and on about this album but will just say that every track is of killer quality and delivered with a rare passion and authority. This is without doubt one of the rock albums of the last few years.

4.5/5