Quick Reviews: Blues Pills & Category 7

Blues Pills - Birthday

Here's a question we've seldom asked before; What if Adele fronted a rock band?

That's the impression Blues Pills' latest album gives me, as there are moments when Elin Larsson's voice is eerily similar to Adele, and their music has softened to the point where they do sound at times more like hard pop than soft rock. Gone are the days of their debut album's electric blues, which is fine. What isn't quite as fine is them not finding a lane that fits them quite as well. This particular brand of softer music doesn't play as well to Larsson's voice, which is at its best when belting out with all her power.

Those moments come on this record, but they are rarer, and they often come in the form of repetitive choruses that treat the titles as mantras. "Piggyback Ride", in particular, is as annoying as anything they've ever done. But then there's "Holding Me Back", which is absolutely their version of "Rollin' In The Deep", and is one of the best songs of the year. Blues Pills have always had the talent and the ability, but for whatever reason they are searching for an identity other than the one they were forged from.

That means that like the last two albums, this one is a good record with plenty of promise, but I don't think it holds up as a full experience. The highlights are fantastic, but twenty minutes of those does not an amazing album make. This continues to be one of those times when a band and I have very different ideas of where the path to the future is pointing.

Category 7 - Catagory 7

By this point, we all know how I feel about 'supergroups', especially when not all the members of the band have ever been 'super' to begin with. And if you're going to give your band a name implying you're more ferocious than a category five hurricane, you'de better back it up with the music. For a group of fifty-somethings, that's probably asking way too much, which is why this band wasn't the best idea to begin with.

Featuring John Bush on vocals, this group updates his era of Anthrax with more flamboyant guitar playing, courtesy of Mike Orlando. Since he first came to my attention with Adrenaline Mob, he has been a bit of a guitar gymnast, trying to impress us with his frantic playing and wild gesticulations. Being a showman might actually be the best choice for him, because none of his bands have yet made music I have found more than just passable.

That includes this band, which sounds like what it is; a group of veterans making their average music, because a new version of their average is more interesting to them than doing it again with their main bands. There's nothing wrong with this record, but I also can't tell you there's a single interesting thing about it. Bush sounds like himself, but without many interesting things to say, and without the curiosity of how much he transformed Anthrax. Orlando plays a ton of notes, but how many of them will be memorable might depend on how impressed you are with technicality. I'm not, so I find this record to be mostly bland and toothless. Or, as my colleague D.M put it; "dad metal".

Super, right?