Album Review: Halestorm - Vicious

Here's the thing about Halestorm; they are a mediocre band who happen to be graced by one of the best rock vocalists in the world. Lzzy Hale is an utterly remarkable talent as a singer, but she and her band have so far failed to prove themselves capable as a rock band. Their first two albums are great ("The Strange Case Of..." shared Album Of The Year honors from me), but that's due to the army of outside songwriters who contributed to them. Those hit-makers gave the band a melodic sheen that let them be a perfect balance between pop and rock, between beauty and the beast. When they went on their own for album number three, we saw in full effect they didn't have the writing chops to keep it up, instead writing flabby riffs and relying on Lzzy's power to carry them through. Even she couldn't lift that record up past mediocrity.

I completely understand why they have taken the course they have. The band is big enough now that they can sell records and concert tickets on their name alone. They don't need to release anything to prove themselves anymore. Halestorm is a brand, and it will take a long time before that stops being enough. In the meantime, why would they give up a large percentage of the publishing to their songs if they don't have to? From a business perspective, it makes complete sense for them to keep everything in house, whether the results are good enough or not. Music is a business, and for Halestorm business is good.

That brings us to their second effort mostly on their own. My expectations were set rather low, given that narrative leading in to the record. The first single released, "Uncomfortable", didn't make me feel any better. It's a rough and tumble song that is short on melody, doesn't capture much through the riffs, and leaves Lzzy being too blunt for her own good. "Black Vultures", though, started to get my mind turning. That's a song that is slightly darker, a bit slower, and finally sees Halestorm figuring out how to write their own music without falling into cliche. For once, I thought there was hope for "Vicious".

But hope is dangerous. As soon as you get teased with something beautiful, you get a song like "Do Not Disturb", which goes down as one of the most uncomfortable Halestorm songs yet. It's a slow burn that never ignites, devoid of a riff or melody to create a spark, and finished off with lyrics where Lzzy talks about kinky sex in a hotel room, complete with the painful lyric about wondering what her partner's accent sounds like when they cum. There is sexy, and there is crude. This falls on the latter side.

Lzzy may not be a very good lyricist, but she has upped her game on this record, as the remainder of the album is worlds better than their last outing, and is a pretty good facsimile of "The Strange Case Of...". The guitars are too dark without any top end, and they settle a few too many times into Nickelback grooves, but Lzzy manages to steer things in the right direction more often than not. Songs like "White Dress" and "Vicious" rock with catchy melodies, while the ballads "Heart Of Novocaine" and "The Silence" continue their tradition of writing very strong softer moments.

I knew we weren't going to get a record with the polish of their early days, but my pessimism turns out to be unfounded. It took Halestorm a record under their belts before they were able to stand on their own, but they have found their own voice now. Their messaging could use a bit more poetry to it, but they are developing as songwriters on their own, and are clearly growing as we move forward. That is the most encouraging sign I could see, given what my cynical nature was thinking. Halestorm is not resting on their laurels whatsoever. We might disagree on exactly what the right path to take is, but we're headed in the same direction now.

"Vicious", once you get past the singles and the blunt talk, is a record that has a lot to offer. I was rooting for the band to pull this off, because Lzzy is someone I can't help but love. She's done us proud enough this time. I'm happy with "Vicious", which I didn't think I was going to say when I started writing about this record.