Album Review — Lovekillers
Lovekillers — S/T
We start 2020 with a late release from 2019. December and January tend to be pretty slow months as far as record releases go, so we’ll try and catch up on some 2019 albums until we start seeing some new records released.
Former TNT vocalist Tony Harnell is back with a second record in the last twelve months, this one under the moniker Lovekillers featuring Tony Harnell. Compared to last year’s Starbreaker release, Lovekillers is a little more melodic and compares pretty closely with tracks like “Wild Butterflies” and “Last December” of the Starbreaker record.. Harnell has hooked up with Frontiers favorite Alessandro Del Vecchio, who has worked recently with Revolution Saints and Hardline among others.
Harnell has always been able to take his voice to the edge without going over. Thirty years into his career and he still can push the limits and understands how far is too far. Harnell sounds great and I think his voice suits this more melodic style than some of the heavier tracks on Starbreaker.
The sound of the record is similar to Del Vecchio’s work with Hardline and Revolution Saints with very catchy choruses, keyboard accents and lots of guitar solos. Think updated 80s Arena Rock.
A couple of the standout tracks include “Higher Again” and “Heavily Broken”. “Higher Again” is an upbeat track that features Harnell’s soaring vocals. “Heavily Broken” is slightly more mellow with a huge chorus.
If I have any issue with the record it’s that there isn’t a lot of variance in the tracks. They all pretty follow the verse, verse, chorus, verse, bridge/solo, chorus out formula. Not that I have an issue with that formula, but I would have preferred a little more variation. There are a couple of ballads in the mix which helps, but there’s a lot of the same going on.
Overall, Harnell sounds great and this more melodic sound suits his voice. This record would have pushed for a spot in my Top 20 of 2019.
85 out of 100
Track Listing
- Alive Again *
- Hurricane *
- Ball And Chain
- Who Can We Run To
- Higher Again *
- Across The Oceans
- Bring Me Back
- Now Or Never *
- Heavily Broken *
- No More Love
- Set Me Free
*Best Songs