Do you remember Kane Roberts? The flashy and muscular guitarist of the Alice Cooper Band back in the mid 80s? The guy that looked like Rambo and carried with him some impressive six string weapon-guitars? That’s the one! Roberts gave to the world the sensational “Saints and Sinners” record that easily fits into a Top-20 list of the best hard rock albums ever! You see his collaboration back then with Desmond Child was more than fruitful yet for a variety of reasons never hit a chord in the hearts (and pockets) of the audience.
Flash forward 28 years and Roberts is back with his brand new solo album after a long gap and if you expected a return to an old school sound, you’d better think again! “The New Normal” has absolutely nothing to do with Roberts’ past (not even the sole record that he did under the Phoenix Down tag) and basically is an unsuccessful attempt to sound like Halestorm or Shinedown. Roberts is seemingly ignoring his fan base (regardless of how small that is) and makes a left turn to a modern sound. Here we find a guy exploring the sonic landscape of Nickelback but at the same time failing miserably to find the pot of gold at the end of his journey. Someone may say that this is the right of artistic freedom. Granted! But what’s also granted is any well-intentioned criticism as “The New Normal” leaves nothing to be desired with mediocre and below par songs.
We carry on…
Highlight: Alice Cooper guests on “The New Normal”. The single ray of light on the whole album…
