Beggars & Thieves "We Are The Broken Hearted"

[AlphaMale]

Anybody else digging the hell out of this?? What an excellent return by the band!

 

 

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BEGGARS & THIEVES achieved great success in 1989 with their self-titled debut, but when the 2nd album was ready the musical landscape changed. Now the band returns with vengeance releasing the brand new CD "We Are The Brokenhearted".

 

Founder members Ronnie Mancuso and vocalist Louie Merlino were talking all these years about the possibility of a resurrection of Beggars & Thieves.

To everyone's surprise, the band rocked the audience at Firefest 2010. The NYC based duo recruited drummer Erik Gloege and a 22 year old bassist, Blake Newman, as a rejuvenating injection on the band.

"We Are The Brokenhearted" finds B&T offering a mature - but also fresh - take on the classic melodic rock that make them famous.

Merlino has lost nothing of his strong and focused vocals, as still holds a classic American rock mode and is stabil and clear, especially in all the ballad songs, while Mancuso developed his six-string technique and sound delivering a solid guitar work.

 

From the album opener "We Come Undone", onward you are treated to top notch melodic rock from a group out to prove they never should have been lumped in with the whole hair metal movement. This extremely melodic rocker is one of the best song of the album.

Next song "Oil & Water" has a calm and gentle intro, then the track develops into a stirring mid-tempo melody featuring an incredible guitar performance from Ronnie, with layers of guitars mixing acoustics with electrics.

But there's also some keen rock tunes on this album.

Songs like the great rocker "Innocence" and the smoking guitar riffs of "Seven Seconds" are quite edgy and decidedly unfluffy, whilst "Midnight Blue" have a more a determined groovy delivery and, at times, a warm heaviness.

"Stranded" lands into American melodic territory, and the soaring "Wash Away" is a heartfelt quality emotional ballad with smooth vocals.

 

 

"We Are The Brokenhearted" is loaded with the kind of timeless melodic hard rock that people can get into easily.

It's an entertaining platter of well-crafted songs, reflecting as much strong composition and musicianship, as emotion. Louie Merlino sounds amazing boasting his intact impressive voice with unique warmth and some sense of inner melancholy you do not come across often in post-80's singers. Ronnie Mancuso job is truly exceptional, orchestrating the music with tons of guitar layers, different sounds and tones. The new rhythm section is tight and solid, particularly the drums.

With "We Are The Brokenhearted", Beggars & Thieves has returned in great form, putting the band back on the map of the Melodic Rock scene.

Recommended.

 

 

01 - We Come Undone

02 - Oil & Water

03 - Innocence

04 - Never Gonna See You Again

05 - Beautiful Losers

06 - Seven Seconds

07 - Stranded

08 - Wash Away

09 - Midnight Blue

10 - We Are The Brokenhearted

 

 

Louie Merlino - Vocals

Ronnie Mancuso - Guitars

Blake Newman - Bass

Erik Gloege - Drums

[Nick C]

Oh yeah! It arrived today and I've been hammering it allllll day! But then again I'm biased...I really rate the band and don't think they've done a bad album.

[Rockposer]

Played it a couple of times so far & it hasn't disapointed.

[heaven&hell]

My copy is on order and the new video is great.

[Glen]

Add me to the guys digging this.

 

I can see quite a few on here really hating this, but I love it. Different, a very cool vibe throughout, interesting guitar parts, great production.....really very good.

 

I found their FF performance spellbinding, and this album has managed to capture that - I can see this growing into perhaps one of my favourite albums of 2011.

[embrock]

After a couple of spins I like it a lot as well! Definately a grower and it's so good to have these guys back.

[Evil Rick]

It's a pretty good disc, started sounding a bit samey towards the end. Also a bit too preachy for my liking but most of the songs themselves are decent enough.