Quick Reviews: Issa and Chez Kane

Not every album gives me enough to talk about to fill up an entire review, but they still contain some point or idea worth mentioning. Today, we're going to give shorter consideration to two new albums I don't have enough to say about to fill an entire review.

Issa - Queen Of Broken Hearts

The melodic rock factory keeps producing new albums, and this one is another very solid release. Issa has a powerful voice to belt these songs out, and there's a slight bit more dramatic flair put into these songs than some of the similar records. This is still 80s inspired melodic rock, but without quite as many synth tones all over the place, Issa's sound is classy for the genre. This album is well performed and produced, which makes it an enjoyable listen. It's also no different than Issa's last album, or so many other we're going to hear this year. That makes it much more difficult to feel passionately about.

Everything is good on this record, but nothing is great. There isn't a song I can point to that stands out as a highight, something you absolutely need to hear. Issa isn't a big name, or at the top of the genre, so this is the sort of album you listen to if you're deeply into melodic rock. It will satisfy the fans, but won't endure when the year's best work comes along.

Chez Kane - Chez Kane

This record is a throwback to the female rockers of the 80s, and it absolutely sounds like that. Chez' voice fits right in with the singers of that day, and the keyboards all over the record can't be mistaken for any other time. Listening to this record is like going back to 1988, which I seem to be the only person who sees as a bad thing. I like Chez, but I struggle every time an album like this comes along. I fail to see how it makes sense to so obviously tie your music to a time that was more than thirty years ago, a time you weren't even alive during, and one that so badly dates what you're doing. The best music is timeless, and 80s music was stale even in the 80s.

There are a few songs on this album, like "Rocket On The Radio" and "Get It On", that would make for great modern melodic rock if they didn't sound like relics from the past. It's bad enough that music in the 80s congealed enough that one sound defines the entire decade, but to resurrect that sound is foolish. When you adopt someone else's sound or style, all you do is invite comparisons you can't win. Anyone who loves 80s rock is going to compare Chez to the big hits of the past, and you aren't going to overpower nostalgia. So instead of standing on her own two feet, she has to live in the shadows of the names she will be compared to. It didn't need to be that way.

She, and these songs, had quite a bit of potential. It's a shame they slathered them with a glossy coat of nostalgia. It reflects poorly on what could have been a solid record.