Charm City Devils – Sins
eOne Music
www.charmcitydevils.comÂ@
Rating: B
Charm City Devils are a band that mixes great melodic hooks with ballsy hard rock rhythms, aggressive vocals and plenty of guitar solos. They hail from Baltimore, Maryland and they cut their teeth as a national touring band on Crue Fest 2 where their brand of hard rock was well received.
The new album, released on eOne Music on July 31st, is stronger than their debut and features songs that mix true classic hard rock with a sound that is modern enough for the twenty-something’s to dig as well. This is a solid band that is getting better with experience. Frontman John Allen discusses the passion the band put into making this record, “When we came off of the road at the end of Crue Fest 2, we all felt so pumped and excited to keep moving and growing. We were so blown away at the reaction that we didn’t want to lose that creative energy. We started laying down tracks and ideas for this record almost immediately.”
“Everyone has ups and downs – that’s life,” he continues. “I’ve been a professional musician since I could carry my gear and have seen and experienced what this industry ‘good and bad’ has to offer. We wanted SINS to be deep with songs that people can relate to. On this record, I wanted to put it all out there with songs about love, anger, revenge, lust and all the emotions that I was feeling. Expressing what I, and everyone in this band, had been through. These feelings are universal. They touch everyone and we used our experiences to put together a powerful statement that we believe listeners can connect with.”
The band has succeeded in their quest. The best songs on the album are the rockin’ “Devil is a Woman” and “Still Alive.” However, these are just the cream of the crop; the rest of the album rocks hard and with songs like “Walk Away,” “Start It Up” and “Love N War” being just a hair behind the aforementioned two songs, Charm City Devils has created a damn good rock record.
By Jeb Wright
