{"id":37306,"date":"2014-02-09T09:29:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-09T14:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=37306"},"modified":"2014-02-09T09:56:11","modified_gmt":"2014-02-09T14:56:11","slug":"adriangale-suckerpunch-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/adriangale-suckerpunch-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Adriangale | Suckerpunch<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gainesx<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist\/News Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"adriangaleIt\u2019s been a long time coming \u2013 nine years to be exact \u2013 but melodic hard rockers Adriangale are finally back with a new studio album, their fifth overall, titled Suckerpunch. Adriangale is probably best known for featuring Guardian frontman Jamie Rowe, but over the course of four previous albums the band has built an impressive reputation in their own right.<\/p>\n

Comparisons to Guardian are, of course, inevitable. It\u2019s impossible to hear Rowe\u2019s unique voice \u2013 half Eric Martin, half Ronnie Atkins \u2013 and not think Guardian. Adriangale has more punch though (no pun intended), particularly on this album. Guitarist and chief songwriter Vic Rivera can take the lion\u2019s share of credit for that. Once again he\u2019s found the perfect balance of heavy rhythms and razor sharp solos and the catchy hooks and melodies that keep things accessible. It\u2019s not easy to make a modern melodic rock album that captures all of the best elements of the \u201880s rock sound while at the same time avoiding the cheese and clich\u00e9s that era is known for, but Adriangale really knocked it out here (OK, pun intended).<\/p>\n

Everything comes together perfectly on Suckerpunch. The guitar work is fantastic, the songs are well written, the production is first rate, and of course the vocals are a major part of what makes this album work. Rowe really is one of the scene\u2019s most underrated talents, and he turns in another memorable performance. Beyond that the backing vocals make you want to sing along to each song. The lyrics are interesting too. Adriangale has been tagged with the \u201cChristian rock\u201d label in the past, but that may just be due to Rowe\u2019s presence. The lyrics on Suckerpunch are not overtly religious, but they are somewhat inspirational and at least open to interpretation. You\u2019re going to think \u201cmelodic rock\u201d or \u201chard rock,\u201d and damned good melodic hard rock at that, before you apply any other labels.<\/p>\n

As for standout tracks, the super-catchy \u201cThe Black and the Blue\u201d jumps way out front, but heavier, more rocking \u201cAll About the Money\u201d and \u201cWhat Would You Do\u201d have a great Pretty Maids vibe. \u201cWhen I Said You\u2019d Be the One\u201d and closing song \u201cYou\u201d are the ones that will probably satisfy Guardian fans the most. The whole album is rock solid though, and is arguably the best Adriangale release to date.<\/p>\n

Suckerpunch is another fantastic melodic hard rock album from a band that deserves a lot more attention. If you\u2019re already an Adriangale fan you need to own this album like now. Same deal if you\u2019re a Guardian fan. This isn\u2019t exactly the same style, but there are enough similarities to make this a natural fit. Beyond that, if you have an appetite for high quality melodic rock, especially bands like Pretty Maids, Mr. Big, Dokken, Gotthard and labelmates LaValle, you\u2019d do well to give Suckerpunch a try. And if you get the chance to catch Adriangale live (as those of us at last year\u2019s MelodicRockFest 3 event did), do not pass it by. They completely own the stage.<\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nJamie Rowe (v)
\nVic Rivera (g) (v) (d)
\nEddie Campbell (g) (v)
\nMatt Mahoney (b) (v)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\nSuckerpunch!
\nThe Black and Blue
\nWhen I Said You\u2019d Be the One
\nAll About the Money
\nBelieve
\nGive Me a Sign
\nWhat Would You Do
\nTemporis Intermission
\nThe World We Knew
\nCould Have Been Me
\nYou<\/p>\n

Label: Kivel Records<\/p>\n

Website: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Adriangale<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 9\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gainesx – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — It\u2019s been a long time coming \u2013 nine years to be exact \u2013 but melodic hard rockers Adriangale are finally back with a new studio album, their […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":37307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[8445,2317,8444,2847,8805],"class_list":{"0":"post-37306","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-adriangale","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-kivel-records","11":"tag-melodic-hard-rock","12":"tag-suckerpunch"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}