Quick Reviews: Hayley Griffiths & First Signal

This week's two for one special is:

Hayley Griffiths - Melanie

I don't remember how I came across Karnataka during her tenure with the band, but the "Secrets Of Angels" record was a favorite of mine, and is one I still listen to today. She was the star of that show, and made me re-think a few things about how I view classically trained singers in rock and metal bands. Hearing that she was going to be making a rock record of her own was a fine bit of news. The couple of singles she had put out in recent years were both very good, and quite promising.

Now that we have the whole record, the results both exceed and fall short of those expectations. On the plus side, Hayley's voice still sounds amazing, and she generally has songs that fit into the same dramatic variety I discovered her singing. It's heavier than Karnataka was, which might mute a bit of the orchestration, but it's a fitting backdrop for her. The songs are also solid, and the melodies are mostly engaging and memorable. I think my issue is mostly that the record is relatively short, so when there is a song that doesn't speak as much to me, it stands out more. And considering that those two singles I mentioned aren't included on the record, it seems like an obvious fix to add them to the track listing could have made this even better. It's an enjoyable record, for sure, and I'm glad to hear Hayley again, but it could use just a little more juice.

First Signal - Face Your Fears

The second album in two years from this project sees Harry Hess collect another group of melodic rock songs from a cadre of writers. This time, I find the songs more engaging and more memorable than last time. From start to finish, it's a highly enjoyable set of songs that does what melodic rock is supposed to do, capped off by Harry's strong vocals. Just on that basis, it's an easy album to recommend.

What I can't escape is the thought that I would rather have a new Harem Scarem record, since their last two have far exceeded anything First Signal has done. Knowing these are songs Harry has collected, I get no sense of him as an artist from this album. His work on the Harem Scarem records is so good, this feels rather milquetoast by comparison. It's people writing trying to sound like that, rather than the real thing. And let's not forget how silly the repeated lyric, "shoot the bullet straight" is. Bullets can't curve (other than gravity's pull, which isn't what it means), so I'm spending the entire song wondering why they built the lyric around something impossible. As much as I laughed at the Harem Scarem lyric about Sir Issac Newton, at least it didn't cause cognitive dissonance.

But as a shut-your-brain-off record, this is definitely fine.