MAXX EXPLOSION - Forever (2013)

[Nightrain]

 

Tracklist

1. Devil's Locomotive
2. Falling Away
3. Cross Your Heart
4. Don't Wanna Break
5. Love is a Nightmare
6. Rise
7. End of The Line
8. Demon Wheel
9. Cant Stop Falling
10. Beat Around the Bush
11. Famous
12. Suicide Door
13. Forever

[Nightrain]

Jimi Bell has impressed me a lot with HOUSE OF LORDS and JOINED FORCES, and this next project is no different. His musicianship, together with BJ ZAMPA, is simply just crazy, and Chris McCarvill is also a beast on bass and also gives a stellar vocal performance as well. Based on the leading single 'Devil's Locomotive', this album could propel their name to the sky, but there are two things that prevented them from flying which are the inconsistency of the whole album and the quite-poor production, which is rare for Kivel releases.

Out of 13 tracks presented here, I found at least 3 weaker songs that maybe most of us can easily pass. 'End of The Line' is the first, the next instrumental 'Demon Wheel' is also harmless but pointless and the last track, 'Forever', is another filler ballad. They should have concentrated on uptempo hard rock because 'Falling Away', 'Love Is A Nightmare', and 'Famous' are awesome.

'Don't Wanna Break' is a nice midtempo radio friendly tune and 'Can't Stop Falling' is the best ballad here. 'Beat Around The Bush' is a good MR.BIG-meets-WHITESNAKE style track. 'Suicide Door' is also a good one with thundering rhythm but perhaps 7.5 at best. If only this has better production, I think the final score will be higher, but lack of awesome tracks also dragged the whole thing down. Good album but I expect more!

77%

[heaven&hell]

To each his own but I found the title track to be one of my favorite songs. There are maybe a couple of fillers towards the back of the disc but I really like the first 7 songs and the title track and "Famous" is nice too. The production is very good to me, sure it's not your standard Ty Sims/Kivel production but I still think it's good.

[Nightrain]

Yeah I spotted the production sounds a little drowned than the other Kivel releases, perhaps I prefer the crisp clear sound a la Newman, Dennis Ward, or Chris Laney, but I thought it's inferior compared to the other releases like LaValle or Adriangale.

'Can't Stop Falling' is a beautiful tune and much better than 'Forever' as ballad IMHO, wonder if you also like that song ?

[heaven&hell]

Yeah I spotted the production sounds a little drowned than the other Kivel releases, perhaps I prefer the crisp clear sound a la Newman, Dennis Ward, or Chris Laney, but I thought it's inferior compared to the other releases like LaValle or Adriangale.

'Can't Stop Falling' is a beautiful tune and much better than 'Forever' as ballad IMHO, wonder if you also like that song ?

Yep I like that song too.

 

Those other two Kivel albums were produced by Ty and John so I agree there is a difference in the production.

[lettard]

really like this cd,tracks like "break your heart" are great,sound like blue murder in places such as the afforementioned track.

[Stefan]

[KarpetRydOFunk]

Is this essentially House of Lords without James Christian? It sure looks like it.

[Mullethead]

I will be buying this...killer!

[Jeff]

Famous is THE killer tune off this very good CD.

I agree the production does seem a bit muddy. Like most any release by most bands there are a few songs that don't work for me. Forever would be one of them, and I didn't find Demon Wheel necessary either. BUT that's about it, most everything else is pretty darn good IMO!

[heaven&hell]

Yes it's HOL without James but Chris can sing and the album is very good IMO and they will be at MRF4 after only getting a short set at 2am this year. Very nice guys too!

 

 

Oh and they are supposed to have a new album next fall supposedly.

[Stefan]

 

 

 

[Stefan]