Over the last five years these kiwi brothers have been touring almost incessantly through the States with anyone who will have them so, following on from the success of their 2009 debut. They have shared the stage with acts such as Creed, Korn, Alter Bridge, Five Finger Death Punch, Shinedown and many others, and in fact have spent so much time on the road that the only way to record this was by doing so in hotel rooms after gigs! They say that it helped as they were so pumped with adrenaline that this assisted with the performances they put out. This is melodic hard rock, and I can see why Creed and Alter Bridge had them on board, but they also have the heaviness that I would associate more with 5FDP. Released initially as a seven song EP it was also possible to gain access to two more songs if it was purchased and the links activated before the end of May, which makes it more album length at 43 minutes, so I’m not sure why they didn’t just include those two in the first place. They happily state that they have had more success in America than any other kiwi metal act, but I would love to see them against 8 Foot Sativa, The Symphony of Screams and Shihad in a local Battle of the Bands, as I think that when they are pitted up against those guys they might find that they are on the losing end.
Overall though, this is really interesting, although their version of “Gangster’s Paradise” (sic) just doesn’t do it for me – and it is certainly brave of a band to cover one of the biggest selling singles of all time and try do to a metallic version of it, but maybe they should just have left it alone as their own songs are more interesting than that. Apparently they were back in NZ earlier this year working on the follow-up, but according to their website they are already back on the road touring with Sick Puppies as well as slotting in various festival dates. Generally Kiwi bands haven’t done that well internationally, so maybe they have hit on a form of melodic hard rock that will allow them to do that. Only time will tell.
www.likeastorm.com
