Album Review: Harem Scarem - Change The World

It's not too often a band that's been around for decades blows you away, or makes their best record. Usually, whether they've run through their best ideas, or we're just tired of hearing their particular sound, the back half of an artist's career doesn't leave the same impact. It does happen, though, such as how I'm the one person out there who says with no hesitation that "Peachtree Road" and "The Captain & The Kid" are Elton John's best records. I seem to be alone out on that limb. It happened a couple of years ago with Harem Scarem, who released "United", which was a masterclass in melodic rock, nearly the album of the year, and quite possibly the best album of its kind in recent memory.

That means the expectations for this follow-up are sky high. It's probably unfair, but since the bar was set by them, it's what we're going to work with.

I'll spare us all the drama. Is this record better than "United"? In a word, no. However, not being better than the best doesn't mean you aren't still great. And this record is still truly great melodic rock.

Harem Scarem have great vocals and great songs, full of big melodies and immediate hooks. Melodic rock has never been a popular subset of the genre, but with songs like this, I'm not entirely sure why. This sound is engaging, welcoming, and charming. It's like arena rock, if you dial down all of the phallic bravado that populated the worst of those bands. Maybe it's a problem that Harem Scarem are making music for adults, rather than teenagers and frat bros, but that's why it's great. They aren't pandering for popularity, they're making music for people who want to hear good songwriting instead of angst and gimmickry.

Harry Hess has a perfect voice for the style, comfortably melodic with just a hint of grit to keep everything from getting too polished. He delivers hook after hook with the confidence of knowing his band is firing on all cylinders. There's a lot of melodic rock being made, but not much of it is this good, and not much of it has its own identity. Harem Scarem doesn't sound like the conveyor belt bands that take their songs from the communal pile. This is clearly a Harem Scarem record, and that goes a long way to making it just that much more enjoyable.

Comparing the two records, "Change The World" is a bit softer, with guitar playing that pulls back a bit from the fiery licks that "United" featured. Relaxed is a word I often thought of listening through these songs. The band has already proven themselves, so they aren't trying to stretch any boundaries or sharpen any axes. That's just fine, but it does mean this record has a touch less spark and bite to it.

But that's not a criticism, merely an observation. Making the exact same record again and again gets redundant, so having a slightly different tone lets this record stand out as its own entity. This isn't "United" part two, no matter how good that idea might sound. "Change The World" isn't trying to be that, which I consider a good thing, because as I said before, measuring up to that bar was always going to be impossible. While I would still point you to the previous record first, "Change The World" is melodic rock at its finest, and a hell of a follow-up.