Adrenaline Mob toured and clubbed around at the end of 2011 and throughout 2012, both before and after the release of their debut album Omerta. During this tour, given that they only had one album's worth of material to play, the band also threw in a number of their favourite songs as cover versions to fill out each set. No doubt they could have played songs from their previous or current bands, but they obviously tried to avoid playing anything that may take the focus off their own material.
So here we have an EP of studio recordings of those favourite cover songs of theirs. It's a great collection of songs and bands, and they are all performed wonderfully well. Though each band is only represented once, there is a common theme involved. For instance, they do a cover version of Dio's "Stand Up and Shout", which is great. They also do a cover version of Rainbow's "Kill the King", also terrific, and originally recorded with Ronnie James Dio on vocals. They finish off with a cover version of Black Sabbath's "The Mob Rules", again a great version, and again originally recorded with vocals by Ronnie James Dio. It's good to see the great man get more recognition by some of today's stars.
The version of Badlands' "High Wire" is terrific, and is obviously one of the band's favourites. Russell Allen's vocals are extremely impressive here. Covering "Break on Through" by The Doors was brave and no doubt challenging decision. Of all the songs here, this version is the one that is most unlike the original. It's tough to change up a classic like this song, and no doubt some will love it and some will hate it. I guess I'm a bit nonplussed about it. "Romeo Delight" by Van Halen and "Barracuda" by Heart are both faithful adaptations of those songs, with Allen's vocals on "Romeo Delight" very much in the vein of DLR. Led Zeppelin's "The Lemon Song" is again done very well, but it just doesn't fit in with the energy that the other songs give off in this collection.
In the long run, this collection gives the fans something to tide them over until the band releases some new material. While this works in both performance and song choice, it will for me fall into the same category as all albums and EPs that are strictly filled with cover versions do - that is, the first ten or so times you put it on and listen you will enjoy it. Then you will drift back to the original versions of these songs, and realise that they are still the best versions, and this EP will become a self filler, only to be brought out when someone comes over and you can put it on for ears who haven't yet heard it.
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