{"id":49105,"date":"2015-04-25T07:43:58","date_gmt":"2015-04-25T12:43:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=49105"},"modified":"2015-04-25T07:43:58","modified_gmt":"2015-04-25T12:43:58","slug":"maxx-explosion-dirty-angels-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2015\/maxx-explosion-dirty-angels-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Maxx Explosion | Dirty Angels<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"MaxxAmerican Melodic rockers Maxx Explosion are back with a new album, their second, titled Dirty Angels<\/em>. Maxx Explosion is, of course, the band put together by House of Lords musicians Chris McCarvill (who also handles lead vocals here), Jimi Bell and BJ Zampa. They made a splash with their 2013 debut Forever<\/em>, and the chemistry these three showed on that album is undeniable on Dirty Angels<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Maxx Explosion\u2019s overall sound hasn\u2019t changed much since the debut. They\u2019re still squarely in the harder Melodic Rock territory of bands like Dokken, Adriangale and of course House of Lords. There are some more AOR moments, and some nods to sleaze rock, but for the most part this is a very straightforward Melodic Rock album. On Dirty Angels<\/em>, the band sounds tighter and more polished than ever. The huge vocal harmonies, especially during the choruses, are the band\u2019s \u201csecret weapon.\u201d Obviously they get a lot of practice with that with House of Lords, but it\u2019s such a powerful part of the Maxx Explosion sound. Jimi Bell\u2019s melodic hooks were already powerful enough, but when these guys all start singing on top of them the result is on par with Nelson or Harem Scarem\u2019s best moments.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s a downside here it\u2019s that with 14 tracks (even discounting the brief instrumental intro) Dirty Angels<\/em> runs a bit long. Cutting down to 10-11 of the best songs might have made this a more powerful experience. Dropping the head-scratcher cover of Gary Wright\u2019s \u201cDream Weaver\u201d would have been a good start. Still, that\u2019s a minor complaint when the majority of Dirty Angels<\/em> is so strong. \u201cDoctor Saturday,\u201d \u201cNothing\u2019s Easy\u201d and the title track are definite highlights, but almost any track you pick from this album is going to knock your socks off.<\/p>\n

If you liked the first Maxx Explosion album or are a fan of these guys\u2019 work in House of Lords, this is a no-brainer. Get your hands on a copy of Dirty Angels<\/em> right now. If you\u2019re new to the band but enjoy classic-style Melodic Rock with huge vocal harmonies \u2013 think Nelson, Harem Scarem and House of Lords \u2013 it\u2019s past time you checked out Maxx Explosion, and Dirty Angels<\/em> makes for an unforgettable introduction.<\/p>\n

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

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

Track Listing:
\n1.\tVoodoo Moon
\n2.\tDoctor Saturday
\n3.\tCrazy Hot
\n4.\tOver You
\n5.\tNothing\u2019s Easy
\n6.\tOrdinary Life
\n7.\tAll For You
\n8.\tOver the Line
\n9.\tImpossible
\n10.\tDream Weaver
\n11.\tTrigger Happy
\n12.\tFast Enough
\n13.\tOn the Rise
\n14.\tDirty Angels<\/p>\n

Label: Kivel Records<\/p>\n

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

Hardrock Haven Rating: 8.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — American Melodic rockers Maxx Explosion are back with a new album, their second, titled Dirty Angels. Maxx Explosion is, of course, the band put together by House […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":49106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12394],"tags":[2317,11152,8444,8483,2847,2901],"class_list":{"0":"post-49105","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2015","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-dirty-angels","10":"tag-kivel-records","11":"tag-maxx-explosion","12":"tag-melodic-hard-rock","13":"tag-melodic-rock"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49105","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=49105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}