The Hotcakes - Excess All Areas

[All Nights Reserved]

The Aussie band plays some old school KISS influenced music, and released a new (debut?) album called "Excess All Areas". I found only old live videos and an old MySpace page, but they are alive.

 

http://www.myspace.com/hotcakesrock

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10WlA7e7_gI

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91wl8UuqH3A

[Geoff]

I heard this one. It was okay - a little better than I thought it was going to be... but it's definitely not great, imo. .

[Nightrain]

Not great, maybe, but it's still a pretty damn good album in my book. Most of the songs are in the safe range of 7.25 - 7.75, except some highlights such as 'Fire and Ice' which I rated 8.5, 'Easy Come Easy Go' is also very nice and a solid 8/10, and I like 'Look Before You Leave' which around 8.25. 'The Witching Hour' strangely doesn't fit this album, it feels like a Maiden epic but sadly the chorus isn't really great. The first track, 'Rockin In The Afternoon', has potential but I spotted a little flaw in the chorus, should be a great track, shame it's not.

 

Production is killer, and musicianship is quite solid too, I like the guitar part and they also have some nice solos here and there. Most of the songs have fun vibe, and even though songwise aren't really great compared to other great songs, this factor alone actually can keep you keep comin back to play this one. Oh, and another thing is about the ballad, I guess it's quite generic and they should have left it off and replace it with another hard-hittin track like 'Fire and Ice' or 'Easy Come Easy Go'.

 

77%

[Stefan]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stefan]