Skin-shedding U.S. rock heroes Halestorm up the ante, the ambition and the volume on challenging, do-or-die sixth album.
If Lzzy Hale died tomorrow, and she wants you to consider that prospect on album closer How Will You Remember Me, she’d be lauded as one of this century's biggest rock voices. Arguably its most inspiring female figure. Thankfully this sixth album, far from sealing a coffin lid, will almost certainly see Halestorm rising to new light.
The band has taken one of those calculated gambles. They've deconstructed everything they are, thought about it some, and built it all up again. Like Chloe Kelly taking a penalty, it's all instinct, all courage. Everest remains Halestorm, yes, but in dazzlingly diverting ways that are gonna take you time and several plays to appreciate properly.
They're in good company. Numerous all-time greats, from Led Zeppelin to Nightwish, have created like this, and the results took justifiable time to absorb. So it is with Everest, which could just turn out to be Halestorm's finest work.
The astonishing Rain Your Blood On Me evokes Dio re-working Audioslave, while the no-less-gripping Gather The Lambs helps steer the quartet down new, darkly shadowed roads. Admittedly, Shiver seems like an unnecessary add-on, but both the title-track and the slowly ballooning Darkness Always Wins are as epic in scale as they are creative in delivery. The message is that life is no picnic. That it’s a tough climb, but an ascent worth making.
Also right up there is Like A Woman Can, which builds to an elongated, deeply felt chorus; smoky Amy Winehouse vibes bolstered by Halestorm's considerable aural artillery. Even that’s just an aperitif for the wall-smashing of Watch Out! and K-I-L-L-I-N-G, surely the most frenetic, furious songs in this band’s game. And for further proof of how planet-sized the outfit’s tireless voice is, the chest-bursting chorus in I Gave You Everything seals the deal.
Far from needing to be remembered, Lzzy Hale ain't going any place save right into your actual face.
Verdict: 4/5
For fans of: Audioslave, In This Moment, Alter Bridge
Everest is released on August 8 via Atlantic
