Year: 2019
Total Time: 56:45
Label: Vertigo
VOLBEAT, for those who still live inside caves and don’t know them, is one of the most successful bands of the last ten-fifteen years in the wider “Rock” genre. Their sound is quite special, they combine heavy music massively influenced by METALLICA, with Rockabilly and the legacy of Elvis Priestley and Johnny Cash. Something similar to what SOCIAL DISTORTION did a couple of decades ago, but quite a lot more metal! Just two years ago, they managed to give the biggest gig in their country a domestic artist ever did, selling out the Telia Parken in Copenhagen gathering about 48,000 people. That’s not a small feat, right? This success of course came, apart from their hard work and the constant touring to Europe and America, from a compromise of their sound to a more radio-friendly arena rock. The metal element that we met in abundance in their first albums and were a very distinctive part of their music, began to gradually decrease and respectively the most melodic rock songs started to form the basis of their sound.
In “Rewind, Replay, Rebound” they continue in the same pattern with the scales leaning dangerously on more corny paths, with several “ballad like” songs and choruses, melodic riff, leads and vocals. There are some metal moments with some rhythmic guitars and riffs reminiscent of their past as we also have the guest participation of Gary Holt (EXODUS/SLAYER) offering a solo to “Cheapside Sloggers”. Of course, if the music is good, it doesn’t matter whether a band plays rock or metal.
The music in “Rewind, Replay, Rebound” is well played and quite catchy. Poulsen continues to be one of the group’s highlights reminding of a melancholic Elvis as well as a “domesticated” James Hetfield. Caggiano plays some interesting riffs but what he does best is his solos. The top moment of the album perhaps is “Die to Live”, a dynamic up-tempo rock n roll piece with fast guitars, piano and saxophone, in which Poulsen makes a very successful duet with Neil Fallon of our beloved CLUTCH. Despite the good moments of the album, Poulsen’s catchy choruses and Caggiano guitars, what’s left in the end is that VOLBEAT have started repeating themselves – “Evil Pelvis” is vividly reminiscent of “Sad Man’s Tongue” – and that their songs have lost their punch!
Rating: 6.5/10
Dimitris Benetatos
Related Link: Volbeat – Official site
