{"id":45305,"date":"2014-09-30T08:29:02","date_gmt":"2014-09-30T13:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=45305"},"modified":"2014-09-30T08:31:21","modified_gmt":"2014-09-30T13:31:21","slug":"gotthard-bang-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/gotthard-bang-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Gotthard | Bang!<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"GotthardSwiss melodic rock kings Gotthard are back with a new studio album, their eleventh overall, titled Bang!<\/em>. It\u2019s the second album since the unfortunate death of founding vocalist Steve Lee, whose shadow still looms large over the band. The band made a strong comeback with 2012\u2019s Firebirth<\/em> though, so expectations for Bang!<\/em> were fairly high.<\/p>\n

Despite the title, the album doesn\u2019t exactly get started with a bang. It\u2019s not till about the fourth track \u2013 \u201cFeel What I Feel\u201d \u2013 that you start to feel that old Gotthard groove break through, and for the next half dozen tracks the band delivers the kind of soulful, hook-laden melodic rock songs we\u2019ve come to expect from Gotthard. Unfortunately they lose steam again towards the end. It just seems like the band overdid it here. At 9-10 songs, Bang could have been a good, but not great, Gotthard album. At 14 tracks it feels a bit bloated. <\/p>\n

Padded or not, there are some really memorable songs on Bang. \u201cC\u2019Est La Vie\u201d and \u201cMaybe\u201d have a sweet D-Frosted vibe, and \u201cJump the Gun\u201d and \u201cSpread Your Wings\u201d are very catchy melodic rockers. And the album as a whole does grow on you after repeated listens. That\u2019s just not something most of us are used to from a Gotthard album. For his part, new singer Nic Maeder seems to be fitting in just fine, though it remains difficult to accept the idea of a Gotthard without Steve Lee.<\/p>\n

In the end, Bang!<\/em> is a solid enough melodic rock album, and one that most Gotthard fans should enjoy if they\u2019re willing to give it a chance to grow on them. It\u2019s not a highlight of the Gotthard discography though, and given the spectacular releases by H.E.A.T, Brother Firetribe, Work of Art and Free Spirit, it isn\u2019t going to stand out in the crowd.<\/p>\n

Edition Notes: The U.S. version of Bang includes three bonus studio songs \u2013 \u201cI Want It All,\u201d \u201cYou Can\u2019t Stop Me\u201d and \u201cMy Daddy Told Me.\u201d All are decent songs, but none are any better than the regular album tracks.<\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic Rock<\/p>\n

Lineup:
\nNic Maeder (v)
\nLeo Leoni (g)
\nHena Habegger (d)
\nMarc Lynn (b)
\nFreddy Scherer (g)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tLet Me In Katie
\n2.\tBang!
\n3.\tGet Up n\u2019 Move On
\n4.\tFeel What I Feel
\n5.\tC\u2019Est La Vie
\n6.\tJump the Gun
\n7.\tSpread Your Wings
\n8.\tI Won\u2019t Look Down
\n9.\tMy Belief
\n10.\tMaybe
\n11.\tRed On a Sleeve
\n12.\tWhat You Get
\n13.\tMr. Ticket Man
\n14.\tThank You
\n15.\tI Want It All
\n16.\tYou Can\u2019t Stop Me
\n17.\tMy Daddy Told Me<\/p>\n

Label: The End<\/p>\n

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

Hardrock Haven Rating: 7\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — Swiss melodic rock kings Gotthard are back with a new studio album, their eleventh overall, titled Bang!. It\u2019s the second album since the unfortunate death of founding […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":45307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[8941,2317,3495,2901,10053],"class_list":{"0":"post-45305","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-bang","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-gotthard","11":"tag-melodic-rock","12":"tag-the-end"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45305","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=45305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}