Album Review: Lovekillers - Lovekillers

Who in their right mind decided we needed two albums featuring Tony Harnell this year? We've already gotten one from Starbreaker, and now he's back with Lovekillers, and I can't figure out why. Tony Harnell isn't that great of a singer, for one thing, but he's also not nearly famous enough for anyone to know his name, let alone care about hearing this much from him. Some people might know TNT, but not him outside of it. And yet, here we are presented with a record that puts him to the forefront (the actual title of the record is "Lovekillers featuring Tony Harnell", making it one of the lamest titles ever), making it sound like a big deal that we have the opportunity to get new music from the guy. Sorry, but no.

The difference is that this band is 80s melodic hard rock, rather than more metal-tinged, but the difference isn't as great as they think it is. The two bands sound rather similar, and with the usual suspects behind the writing and production of this one, it also sounds like half of the melodic rock coming out of Europe today. There isn't a single thing that stands out and makes this project unique from the scads of others. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but when there's already so much of it, we don't need the same people clogging up our ears with yet more of it.

That being said, these people know what they're doing, which means the album largely delivers the kind of sweet melodic rock that fans are looking for. Harnell and the other writers have put together a batch of songs that have plenty of solid hooks, and a decent sense of fun to go along with them. And thankfully, they eschew some of the worst synths of the time they are pulling from, so at least the record doesn't sound as dated as it could.

But since these songs are written by the same people who write so much of what we already hear, there aren't any surprises, and a lot of the melodic aspects could be pulled from any number of other projects. The only difference between these songs and what we're likely to hear on the new Revolution Saints record, for example, is the voice singing them. That means a lot of the enjoyment of this album will come down to your feelings on Harnell's voice. Myself, I'm not really a big fan of his. There's a shrillness inherent in it, but there's also a back-of-the-throat warble to it, much like Michael Kiske, whom I detest.

So if you want to hear some decent generic melodic rock sung by a decent vocalist, this could be the album for you! Sorry, my sarcasm got the better of me there. There simply isn't much to say about an album you and I have already heard many times before, with only one interchangeable part. It's fine music, performed finely. It's not exciting, it's not interesting, and it's not done so well it renders those other two points meaningless. There has been far better melodic rock this year, so I wouldn't tell you to start with this. Lovekillers is for the few die-hard Tony Harnell fans in the world, and those people who can swallow up every melodic rock record that's even decent. Otherwise, you're not missing much if you skip it.