Critic's evaluation
With the longest time gap between releases, Halestorm finally brings to the world, four years after the announcement of Vicious, their fifth studio album. Entitled Back From The Dead, production began three months before the start of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The underworld shakes. A flash emerges from the depths of darkness. Explosions break the uncomfortable silence, and then a scream ruled by accumulated rage echoes through the room. "I'm back from the dead", Lzzy Hale announces vociferously. A metallic hard rock mixed with melodic alternative metal then forms to homogeneously accompany the ferocity of the lyrical interpretation. Bringing familiarities with melodies built by bands like Shinedown and Alter Bridge from the synergy between Hale and Joe Hottinger's guitars, as well as the pressure exerted by Arejay Hale's drums, the title track has an intense lyrical theme that surrounds strength, perseverance, endurance and persistence in not being overwhelmed by the deceptive comfort of derogatory thoughts and ideas. Not coincidentally, 'back from the dead' means exactly the act of letting go of negativity and darkness in order to let the light act upon the individual and let it govern one's destiny. Strong, imposing and infectious and powerful, the title track also evidences the hunger, eagerness and energy accumulated during the isolation and evidences the intact synchronism of Halestorm's musicians.
As in the title track, at full lungs Lzzy comes out as if exploding into newfound and impossible to change statements. It is like a confession. Under the same structure as the previous track, brutal explosions between the guitar duo and the drums amplify the imposing atmosphere created from the introductory melody. The velvety and suffering notes heard in the secondary sound layer come from a synthesizer that ends up imputing a dramaticity that, curiously, suggests the intention of being the middle ground between the instinctive impulses and socially considered evil and the softness translated into human sensitivity. It is like the other face of the individual. Wicked Ways is a song that, moving freely between alternative metal and the tenuous boundaries of metal and hard rock, in fact addresses the relationship between the two sides of an individual: the saint and the devil and, at the same time that it indirectly dialogues with faith, it exposes the truth that everyone needs to access their demons to vent the feelings that hurt the soul.
Strident and harsh. There is a cynical and malevolent air like an eye lurking among the rocks and leftovers, just watching for the right moment to act or, even, waiting for the one being watched to fail. The way lyricism behaves during such a scenario emanates provocation mixed with a grim and intoxicating realization. In its thematic structure that sounds like biography, Strange Girl dialogues about how a person who behaves outside the socially established standards is seen. Judged, belittled, and feared, this same person is deprived of affection and made an enemy simply because she assumes her own identity and does not pretend to be someone else, an attitude that frightens many of those who have an insecure personality. In a way, it is even possible to see a thematic similarity between what is lyrically presented in Strange Girl and Good Girl, K. Flay's track. Both, in their own way, have a dialogue about how it feels to be a stranger in the nest. And it is the different views that make such songs unique and intriguing.
Despite having an explosive base, the guitar solo comes across as suffering, mournful tears amidst a backdrop that embraces a dramatic, melancholic dawn. Interestingly, the way the instruments create their tuning provides a sound that, amidst a numbing chaos, favors the drawing of an interesting and contagious melody. Showing itself as a melodic and radio-friendly single while at the same time presenting itself as a possible ballad from Back From The Dead, Brightside is a song that curiously dialogues with the somber, the disparaging, and the lonely while bringing remnants of a false motivation. It is undeniable that this is an emotionally driven track, as it features a self-suffering lyricist in his absence of a sense of belonging and inclusion. Loneliness here is not something desired, it is something created and managed. As the final verse makes clear: "it's everything you wanted, but nobody likes you", Brightside is about someone who deeply desires to be loved, but is coldly denied this desire.
Precisely, and in a sudden loneliness, the drums pull the introduction. Followed by a melody that mixes feelings of melancholy and joy, merit of the guitarist duo from Halestorm, the instrument is the ingredient that imputes unquestionable density in the rhythmic beat. It is then that a vocal with a cleaner timbre and a connotation of venting invades the melodic scene. Dramatic and bringing a mixture of alternative rock with alternative metal in a way that promotes a simple resemblance with Skillet's sound, The Steeple is a song whose narrative seems to be a continuation of the plot of the title track. After all, while in the latter the lyricist finds himself in the process of overcoming negativistic and depreciative thoughts, in the former he fully covers his consciousness and his own essence in order to feel comfortable with himself and belong to the place he finds himself. From the sound field, it is apparent that The Steeple has a more digestive and therefore more popular structure than that of the title track. More melodic in the strict sense of the word, it has the clothes that please the radio standard, but without getting rid of the sound identity of the Pennsylvanian quartet.
Like the sound of the tide bringing calm after a battle, the guitar appears tranquil and with soothing notes. In its sonares, the instrument manages to provide the listener with the feeling of compassion mixed with disappointment. Minimalist and emotional, Terrible Things unseats Brightside and undeniably takes over as the ballad of Back From The Dead. Bringing an intimate, reflective, and socio-analytical lyricism, the track has a sweet, yet saddened flavor like a look scared by disapproval or hurt by feeling more viscerally the emotion of disappointment. Through Lzzy's clean voice, Terrible Things is a song that explores the core of the individual as belonging to a community darkened and guided by unworthy behavior. Here, the singer brings the pandemic as a response to the wrong path taken by global society, as a desperate attempt by the upper world to get Planet Earth back on the correct evolutionary axis. After all, as Halestorm's own frontgirl dreams it to be an unquestionable reality: "but in my dreams I believe: we're not these terrible things". To give dramatic weight to the song, the quartet was joined, in addition to Scott Stevens' additional acoustic guitar, by the classical scope of the Nashville Music Scoring Orchestra.
The guitar comes in excessively low. As in the title track, the initial outfit adopted bears a visible resemblance to Alter Bridge's melodies, but also brings a flirtation with the aesthetics adopted by Volbeat. With a marked and precise linearity, My Redemption is a song whose lyricism does not escape from the concept of the title. After all, here the plot deals with the redemption of a character who, among sufferings, tears, and pains, managed to free himself from sins and guilt and reached the critical point of his emotional conflict to finally find his way to purpose. With less intensity than Strange Girl, but still evident, the message of My Redemption brings drama and overcoming from a biographical connotation, which amplifies the viscerality of the words and verses contained therein.
Electronic sounds coming from Tiago Nunez's programming make a subtly sinister dawn. Suddenly comes the shrill and the bass as if drawing a doom metal melody. Hammering in a material that exudes sharpness. After this ambient setting, this enigmatic melody builds to a crescendo and leads into an intense, explosive, and provocative scenario. From the first verse on, that synchronicity of ambient sounds takes shape in the evidence of a nu metal melody that is very similar to the clothing adopted by Evanescence in The Bitter Truth. It is precisely in the verses that, inclusive, Josh Smith has his absolute protagonism when printing a bass with a low and slightly strident groove as the guide of the melodic base. In tones of disgusted irony, what Bombshell brings to the listener is a lyricism that criticizes sexist censorship, machismo, and contempt towards the female figure. However, the final message of the song is one of empowerment and motivation not to back down. After all, this is how the lyric self is described: "she's not fragile like a flower. She is fragile like a bomb!".
The guitar comes solo on the basis of sharper distortion and paused riffs. In the second melodic layer, the base guitar accompanies the embryonic harshness with a calmer, more sensible sound. The blows of the bass drum come to create pressure in purposeful moments. Flowing into an explosion of rebellion and positioning, I Come First has a lyricism that marries with Bombshell's theme, for besides discussing in a secondary way the machismo and submission, it evidences independence, strength, and, mainly, self-worth not only in the lyrical context of the character, but also of the woman. To give weight to such a message, the song is ruled by a metallic and surprisingly energetic hard rock.
The guitar comes in an intoxicating distortion and mesmerizing movement. The lead guitar comes in right away, bringing a tuning that counteracts the bass of the lead guitar while Lzzy inserts, with his clean vocals, the lyricism of the song. Aside from the double distortion, Psycho Crazy is a pop-based song that basically deals with the iconic quote from French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau that says "man is good, society corrupts him". The verse "you're the reason I am" and the rest of the stanza "I may go ballistic or better unhinged in my straightjacket on needles and pins. But don't you forget that you started this shit" translates well to such an interpretation.
The piano inserts notes of mixed melancholy and nostalgia. This instrument makes the introduction dramatic and sentimental while the lyricism is printed in a lamenting tone. From an entirely minimalist structure based on the duo voice and piano, Raise Your Horns evolves into a motivational energy that encourages you to move forward, to hope, and, above all, to be who you are, without hiding your true identity. Not by chance that the most striking verse union is: "forgive every fear that convinced you to put out your light. Show every flaw every scar that this world made you hide from who you are". This strengthens Raise Your Horns' message of not being ashamed of one's life story, of not being ashamed of the scars that have shaped one's individual essence. Of indisputably taking on one's own personality.
There is no title that better describes the latest chapter in Halestorm's history. Back From The Dead is an intense album of strong, personal, intimate and courageous lyricisms that dialogue with faith, with self-discovery, with internal conflicts. It is an emotional and dramatic work that describes, in biographical lines, the process of rediscovery and redemption of an individual previously hostage to suffering and socially imposed insecurities.
For this reason, Lzzy Hale's courage in making public many of her personal demons is to be admired. This requires awareness, maturity, and a deep understanding of feelings in order to make their digestion a process that favors the evolution of the spirit.
As the issues present in Back From The Dead are serious and personal, the melodic clothing calls for explosion, calls for drama, calls for melancholy, and calls for nostalgia. In this process, Halestorm transited through different rhythmic fields such as hard rock, metal and alternative metal in order to bring a truly intense sound that exudes all the feelings immersed in each comma of its 11 lyrical contents.
For this to happen in a fluid and homogeneous way, the Pennsylvania quartet had the help of mixing engineer Chris Lord-Alge, who provided an equalized melodic finish, explosive, emotional and intense able to move the listener and vividly dialogue with the feelings of the members themselves present in the lyrics.
Synthesizing such elements comes producer Nick Raskulinecz, who, with the help of co-producer Stevens, offered a kind of therapy for the brothers Hale and company to understand their feelings and transform them into mature, explosive and radio-friendly songs without losing the emotional value.
Released on 05/06/2022 via Atlantic Records, Back From The Dead is the visceral, most honest and intense description of the process of self-knowledge of an individual who dueled with his own demons and managed to overcome them by becoming aware of his emotions. It is a description of both the fragility and the strength of the individual that is often hidden behind socially cultivated insecurities.
