{"id":46560,"date":"2014-11-01T09:59:14","date_gmt":"2014-11-01T14:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=46560"},"modified":"2014-11-01T09:59:14","modified_gmt":"2014-11-01T14:59:14","slug":"kissin-dynamite-megalomania-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/kissin-dynamite-megalomania-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Kissin\u2019 Dynamite | Megalomania<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"KD_M-C_1500x1500\"Starting out a musical career in your teens usually ends up with a highly-publicized nervous breakdown, a string of DUI accusations and, as a grand finale, the act of shaving your head off\u2026 unless you\u2019re in a rock band and it\u2019s a reasonable dose of gig-and-groupies-fueled adrenaline that keeps you sane in spite of the early success! At least, it seems so while looking upon the Swabia-based quintet Kissin\u2019 Dynamite, whose debut album Steel Of Swabia<\/em> caused much of a stir in the rock scene while its band members were not old enough to vote yet. Three albums and six years later, the Germans return with Megalomania<\/em> \u2013 an album that\u2019s hailed to mark a \u201cnew beginning\u201d in the band\u2019s music, with more edgy, modern approach and more mature sound. <\/p>\n

The sound on Megalomania<\/em> is simply, for lack of the better word, bombastic. It\u2019s neither the \u201880s-oriented rock nor a modern-sounding one, but rather the best of both worlds, a manic drive of a monstrous guitar-laden machine. Think the infectious guitar groove of \u201cDNA\u201d or a huge sound of its follow-up \u201cManiac Ball.\u201d \u201cVIP In Hell\u201d gravitates towards even more contemporary musical aesthetics, with a distinctive pumping bass line, furious drum pounding and aggressively chanted verses heavily contrasted with choruses that has some catchiness to it even in spite of the track\u2019s overall festiveness. Next track \u201cFireflies\u201d is opened with the sound of fanfare (literally!) to develop into a ballad-esque and acoustic-driven, but nevertheless powerful track. \u201cDeadly\u201d and \u201cGod In You\u201d have some Cooper-esque vibes to it, especially the heavy-sounding, sinister verses, heavily contrasted with big, melodic choruses. <\/p>\n

One of the best-crafted tracks on the album are the following, \u201cRunning Free\u201d and \u201cLegion Of The Legendary,\u201d their catchy-to-the-utmost melody against the mighty guitar gallop proving beyond a doubt it\u2019s a compromise between the modern-day heaviness and the melodic roots that\u2019s the band\u2019s driving force on Megalomania. And talking about hard rock roots and the old school playing, it\u2019s what\u2019s underlain \u201cThe Final Dance,\u201d Kissin\u2019 Dynamite\u2019s fine take on a power ballad convention. \u201cTicket To Paradise\u201d is the album\u2019s final track and again, a great rock anthem the German five-piece are perhaps the most convincing at.<\/p>\n

Announced as a new chapter in the band\u2019s history, Megalomania<\/em> has certainly Kissin\u2019 Dynamite taken to a new level, but at the same time, not a volte-face turn taken by the children prodigy of Swabia. It\u2019s still all huge hooks and sterling guitar work, still sleazy and rough but nevertheless melodic hard rock of very high quality. It sounds more modern, perhaps more mature and slightly more embedded in 2014 than their previous albums, but still not a drastic change the fans of the earlier Kissin\u2019 Dynamite albums could have felt particularly discouraged by. Speaking shortly \u2013 if you haven\u2019t grabbed your copy of Megalomania yet<\/em>, you know exactly what to do.<\/p>\n

Genre: Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nHannes Braun \u2013 vocals
\nJim M\u00fcller \u2013 guitar
\nAnde Braun \u2013 guitar
\nSteffen Haile \u2013 bass
\nAndreas Schnitzer \u2013 drums<\/p>\n

Track List:
\n1.\tDNA
\n2.\tManiac Ball
\n3.\tVIP In Hell
\n4.\tFireflies
\n5.\tDeadly
\n6.\tGod In You
\n7.\tRunning Free
\n8.\tLegion Of The Legendary
\n9.\tThe Final Dance
\n10.\tTicket To Paradise<\/p>\n

Label: AFM Records<\/p>\n

Website: www.kissin-dynamite.de<\/a> – https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Kissindynamiterocks<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Senior Columnist — Starting out a musical career in your teens usually ends up with a highly-publicized nervous breakdown, a string of DUI accusations and, as a grand finale, the act […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":46561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[8645,2317,1103,10196,10197],"class_list":{"0":"post-46560","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-afm-records","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-hard-rock","11":"tag-kissin-dynamite","12":"tag-megalomania"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46560","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=46560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}