1167. Halestorm / Back from the Dead. 2022. 4/5/

Prior to the covid pandemic hitting the scene, Halestorm had built a reputation for being one of the hardest working bands out there, known for their constant touring and releasing of singles and EP to keep their fans entertained. It has been four years since the release of the previous album ”Vicious”. Over the course of the next two years, Halestorm, consisting of brother and sister combination of lead singer guitarist Lzzy Hale and drummer RJ Hale, lead guitarist Joe Hottinger and bass guitarist Josh Smith, had risen to arena headline status in UK and throughout Europe and were growing bigger than ever in the US. Then the COVID pandemic struck. Almost immediately, the band set up a campaign called #RoadieStrong, in order to help out the roadies and crew whose incomes had dried up almost immediately overnight. In isolation apart from each other, like all other bands on the planet, there must have been doubts as to what would come next, and just when that would be able to happen. The band had begun to dabble in new songs before the pandemic hit, and in January 2021, they announced that they were beginning to write and record a new album, in a socially distance setting which no doubt was not a perfect situation. Lzzy again paired with composer and producer Scott Stevens to pen most of the songs. In August of last year they released a new single, “Back from the Dead“ to dip their toes back into the music world. And as the world began to poke its nose out from behind the curtains once again, the new album, also titled “Back from the Dead“, was released on May 6.

The album kicks off with the title track and first single from the album. Immediately dominated by the screaming vocals of Lzzy Hale and a bombastic beat, it’s a great way to open the album to announce their return. The band seems bigger, harder, more alive than you necessarily expect. It’s a great start, and is extended into “Wicked Ways” with RJ’s pounding those drums with ferocity, Lzzy giving it all vocally and some nice guitar work between herself and Joe. I love the aggression shown in these two opening tracks, showcasing the absolute best this band can produce, and getting close to the way they appear on stage as well. More of this please!
“Strange Girl” dials back that just a little, allowing Lzzy’s vocals to show their soaring skills without losing any of their intensity. A number of the songs here deal with mental health, the battle of light versus darkness in the mind, none more so than “Brightside” where little is left to the imagination in lyrics such as “Fake a smile and self-destruct, count it down, four, three, two, one, I'm over it, all the bullshit, and this fucked up world I'm living in”. It’s another terrific song, with a great rhythm that is perfect for the rant that Lzzy goes on. The second single “The Steeple” follows and keeps up with the power of the vocals driving the drums and guitars in the same fashion. This is followed by the acoustic driven “Terrible Things”, the quiet interlude of the album that not only showcases Lzzy’s amazing vocal range, but separates the first half of the album from the second half.
I’m not sure the second half of the album can match the first. In places in feels more forced than what has come before it. Or perhaps, like in “My Redemption” and “Bombshell” and “I Come First” and “Psycho Crazy”, the style of track that it is has just been done better earlier on the album. Or is it just too similar to better tracks earlier on the album? Make up your own mind on that. The closing track “Raise Your Horns” has some pertinent thoughts in its lyrics, but finishing with what is a piano driven ballad for me just hurts the excellent tracks that have come before it.
If I have a real bone to pick with the album is that I think it could use a few songs where the tempo is picked up and given a bit of speed to allow the band to really break out. This album sticks in that hard hitting drum tempo most of the way through, and it is effective and bludgeoning in the same breath. Just somewhere I would like to have seen a faster song or two, just to offset the balance between that hard mid-tempo and then the softer slower tracks.

I have flirted around Halestorm for a decade, occasionally listening to an album, occasionally watching video clips on YouTube or even a live gig, where they seem to be at their best. I enjoyed their cover version of Dio’s “Straight Through the Heart” on the “This is Your Life” tribute album to the great man. So I cannot and do not claim to be an expert on their music, just a casual fan of what I have heard and seen. But since the release of this album I have listened to it quite a bit, enjoying it more each time I put it on. The band sounds great, and the four piece has a booming sound to their music. The star attraction is not doubt Lzzy Hale herself, and her vocals are a revelation in a world where female hard rock singers seem to come and go fairly quickly. But she shows here that she can sing those ballads well while also blowing your socks off with her harder and tougher songs.
With 11 tracks, and the album just pushing 38 minutes, it doesn’t overstay its welcome which is always a good thing in this day and age. For me, despite the excellent singing on the two tracks, for me if “Terrible Things” and “Raise Your Horns” were substituted for two harder, faster songs this would be an epic album. Their inclusion for me halts this, but I’m sure the true fans of the band love these two tracks and in the long run they are the ones who will dictate their inclusion. And that’s the way it should be.