|
HEALTHY MANIPULATION
I love Las Vegas. I love Casinos, topless girls, free booze, gambling, big buffets, and getting comped. I don't care much for the music in Vegas; you know, Wayne Newton, Tony Orlando, Rick Springfield, and every has-been that can't get a gig at a venue bigger than a bar (Peter Frampton, I'm looking in your direction).
Who knew there was a thriving group of up-and-coming acts in Las Vegas? Not me, that's for damn sure. CLOCKWISE is part of that group of up-and-comers. With strong melodies, crunchy riffs, and a solid lead singer, Clockwise have built quite a reputation for themselves as a band...BEFORE they even released their debut disc. They've opened for Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth, Sevendust, and Alice Cooper to name a few. While it's not going to break any sales records, their debut disc for RCA, Healthy Manipulation, makes quite the first impression.
OK, enough ass-kissing. Let's get into the meat of this review. Lead singer, and principal songwriter Austin LeDuc sounds very much like Mike Patton in his FAITH NO MORE days on the heavier tunes, and can carry a melody better than most rock singers making the rounds today.
The songwriting is commendable, but they need to work on carving out their sound a little better. While the songs on Healthy Manipulation feature a solid blend of rock, funk, hip-hop, punk, and pop music, it's nothing that's going to crack you upside the head just yet. I believe these guys have the potential to write a killer multi-platinum disc. This just isn't it. That's fine though, hopefully they'll be given a few more chances.
For instance, the first single "Lay Her Down" begins with a cruchified funk riff, and then the drums kick into the main verse...like so many other rock songs. It's sort of like they're following the how-to-write-a-rock-song handbook...now they just have to build on what they learned in that book.
Solid disc. Decent tunes. I can't wait to see what else they come up with.
|
