A lightning rod for the best bits of rock and metal…
Review by Brian McGowan
Release date: 5 Sept 2014
One of a bunch of European teenage prodigies who exploded onto the metal market some five years ago, Kissin’ Dynamite are now on their fourth album, and still the number of influences they take in their stride is breath-taking. Purists might expect those influences to have been absorbed by now, subsumed seamlessly into a genre used to upstart splinter groups. But Megalomania pushes and stretches that metaphorical envelope even further.
This band are a lightning rod for all the electrifying best bits of hard rock and heavy metal, as on ‘VIP In Hell’, full of playful, pumped up, quasi-operatic passages for which bands like Edguy and Gamma Ray are so well known. Or being struck by the savage noise of Rammstein, bellowing out the triumphant, classic-in-waiting, ‘DNA’. ‘Maniac Ball’ sees them looking further back, picking up on the detached cool of T Ride, effortlessly compressing punchy harmonies into edgy, energetic rock music.
Then, clearly planned with care, with ‘Firefly’ and ‘God In You’, they emerge from the shadows of their influences. These are tracks full of invention – faux brass fanfares, acoustic guitars that quickly crank up into full blown electric action, sinister sound FX and – in the case of the latter – a pounding percussive soundtrack, adding weight and momentum to an album already heavily freighted with new spins on old ideas.
The remainder of the album never quite matches what has come before, though ballad, ‘The Final Dance’ is an unexpected gem, rendered true to the melodic rock formula, and probably works so well because of, rather than despite of its alien surroundings. And in fairness, closing track ‘Ticket To Paradise’ will act as a neat reminder that this band are just as capable of slugging out with melodic hard rock giants like Pink Cream 69 and Bonfire, as any in their peer group.
7 out of 10
Track List:
- DNA
- Maniac Ball
- VIP In Hell
- Fireflies
- Deadly
- God In You
- Running Free
- Legion Of The Legendary
- The Final Dance
- Ticket To Paradise
