I’m quite pleased that this album hasn’t come up to review before as there has been a lot of opinions posted about the record, some even saying it’s the best thing they’ve done and a lot of them regarding Nuno’s playing. Some of the things Nuno has said himself has you wondering where his head is at.
When you open an album with your best two songs, you are setting the bar very high for what comes after. Rise and Rebel are up there with the best things they have done, and that’s not even up for debate. Nuno’s playing is top drawer and frankly I wouldn’t expect anything less for someone as gifted as he is, plus they are both killer tracks. I really like Banshee, especially the beat and groove, it has that Extreme DNA for sure. Other Side Of The Rainbow is an acoustically driven pop song with a nice solo towards the end.
The Mask has a Gary Glitter drum groove with a Beautiful People Manson riff and sees Nuno and Gary sharing vocals. Thicker Than Blood has a NIN crossed with a RATM groove and vibe, it is the oddity of the album even though the solo is cool. I love the whole vibe of Save Me. It has a great groove and Nuno’s great guitar tone. An electro pop groove hits you on the opening to X Out, even though the feel is a lot darker. The rest of the tracks are either ballads or softer songs.
I would say that after the amazing opening, this album does tail off somewhat, but I do love it. There is only one Extreme and I hope they don’t leave it so long before releasing their next record.
9/10 from The Grooveman.
