Pink Cream 69-Electrified

I've been a Pink Cream 69 fan for just a short time now, but I have to say this is their best release since the Andi Deris days. PC69, has always been said to be not even as close to being as good as Helloween, and since their original singer, Deris, is in Helloween now, lots of comparisons have been made. But PC69 has always known how to write spiffy, catchy songs, tailored more to the poppier metal crowds than the speed metal fans, which Helloween is geared towards. So with that out of the way, the band has served us up a nice dose of metal. Not too brutal, not too speedy, but sometimes with more of a "modern" sound than what I'd prefer.

The cd opens up with Shame, a superb opener, with an assault of superb quirky guitar melodies and a huge chorus, as big as anything that came from the 80s, complete with lead guitar breaks, it sets the pace for the album perfectly. Break the Silence, is my favorite of the more hard hitting cuts, a perfect example of their abilities to blend great harmonies with a heavier sound that seperates them from glam bands and other lighter sounding musical outfits. The guitar playing is very nice, and fits well with the way the overall songs are composed, changing back and forth between rawer guitar sounds with the cleaner, pristine shredding and soloing. The song directly following that, the title track, Electrified, is one of the more "modern" sounding songs, and I don't mean alternative by any long shot, somehow it reminds me of some of the tracks from Saigon Kick's "Water". Losing My Faith, features a great opening, with some awesome vocals, maybe the best song that excerises the vocal prowess of the lead vocalist, David Readman,with a great hook that catches and holds the listener at attention for the duration of the song. Higher Kind of Life is another real high point of the disc, which has a very 80s sound with a unique twist. The last song is the perfect finishing touch for the cd, and really helps to mold it all together, and just adds to the seamless flow of the disc, Gone Again, is a piano driven ballad, which also showcases the lead singer's vocals, and also manages to capture alot of emotion.

Overall, this might not be cd of the year, but its a very solid hard rock/metal album, with plenty of really great tracks to keep any fan happy. The lead singer, is easy to get used to, with smooth vocals, and the production is very slick without being overly done. I'd recommend this to anyone that likes a good straight up hard rock/metal cd, a nice addition to any collection.

Produced by: Dennis Ward