{"id":39090,"date":"2014-04-02T16:24:05","date_gmt":"2014-04-02T21:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=39090"},"modified":"2014-04-02T16:27:17","modified_gmt":"2014-04-02T21:27:17","slug":"maxx-explosion-forever-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/maxx-explosion-forever-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Maxx Explosion | Forever<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"maxxHere\u2019s another debut release on the Kivel Records roster that slipped by us last year. Forever is the first album by Maxx Explosion, a U.S.-based melodic hard rock band consisting of Chris McCarvill (vocals, bass, keyboards), Jimi Bell (guitar) and BJ Zampa (drums). It\u2019s essentially the current House of Lords lineup minus James Christian, and that\u2019s a very promising foundation for a new band to start with.<\/p>\n

Despite the band\u2019s odd name choice, which suggests either an over the top Hollywood hair band or a \u201890s era comic book character, Maxx Explosion actually plays a very polished, classic sounding brand of melodic hard rock. This should come as no surprise to those familiar with this trio\u2019s work with House of Lords. In fact, Forever sounds, in places at least, like a House of Lords album, albeit a somewhat heavier and more rocking affair. The album has plenty of catchy hooks, memorable melodies and some of the best backing vocal work you\u2019re likely to find, adding depth to each song. For his part, McCarvill proves to be a more than competent frontman, to the point where you start to wonder if his voice is the best kept secret in melodic rock.<\/p>\n

Forever<\/em> boasts 13 new songs, nearly all of which (sorry, but only bass players are going to love the bass solo \u201cDemon Wheel\u201d) are winners. Highlights include \u201cFalling Away,\u201d \u201cRise,\u201d \u201cCan\u2019t Stop Falling In Love\u201d and the title track. The album lags a bit towards the end, but for the most part Forever is very well written, well executed and well produced (by none other than Don Dokken) melodic rock.<\/p>\n

It may be a debut album, but Forever<\/em> sounds more like what it really is: an album by seasoned veterans with a great chemistry. Obviously fans of the recent House of Lords albums are going to have a special interest in checking out Maxx Explosion, but Forever<\/em> is such a strong release that just about any fan of melodic hard rock \u2013 whether that\u2019s classic bands like Dokken and King Kobra or newer bands like Eclipse and (newer) Eden\u2019s Curse \u2013 would do well to give this album a try. <\/p>\n

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

Lineup
\nChris McCarvill (v) (b) (k)
\nJimi Bell (g) (v)
\nBJ Zampa (d) (v)<\/p>\n

Track Listing
\n1.\tDevil\u2019s Locomotive
\n2.\tFalling Away
\n3.\tCross Your Heart
\n4.\tDon\u2019t Wanna Break
\n5.\tLove Is a Nightmare
\n6.\tRise
\n7.\tEnd of the Line
\n8.\tDemon Wheel
\n9.\tCan\u2019t Stop Falling In Love
\n10.\tBeat Around the Bush
\n11.\tFamous
\n12.\tSuicide Door
\n13.\tForever<\/p>\n

Website: www.facebook.com\/maxxexplosion<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 8.75\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — Here\u2019s another debut release on the Kivel Records roster that slipped by us last year. Forever is the first album by Maxx Explosion, a U.S.-based melodic hard […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":39091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[2317,9062,1103,3447,8444,8483,2266],"class_list":{"0":"post-39090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-forever","10":"tag-hard-rock","11":"tag-house-of-lords","12":"tag-kivel-records","13":"tag-maxx-explosion","14":"tag-melodic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39090","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=39090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}