Right when you got the news that two members of the band, Marco Mendoza and most importantly, the singer John Corabi, were being replaced by Glenn Hughes the question that instantly arose was: how is the band going to sound with one of the most dominating voices of rock on the mic?
Some things changes and some remain the same. Surely, you get the feeling that Hughes draws his influences upon the music’s direction, but both groove and melody were always two essential parts of the band. As for the quality of the material, there is no question. Here you have well crafted, fresh, classy ‘70s hard rock with a powerful 2021 update on its software. The production is excellent, huge and dominant as it should be when you have players of that caliber.
Obviously, the comparison with the albums the bands released so far is inevitable, but no matter how hard I try I cannot say which one is better. Corabi was a totally different singer, and the same goes for his performance which his own kind of swagger and grain. Glenn “Voice Of Rock” is clean, until Deen Castronovo – on his swan song with the band, as he was replaced by Tommy Clufetos- shares the mic on “30 Days In The Hole”, originally by Humble Pie, which was also covered by Ace Frehley recently.
I have to say that the experiment was successful for the Dead Daisies and certainly the advantage of the new era with Glenn Hughes is the even greater recognition that his name brings and maybe the increase in paygrade from now on. The band sounds full of energy and passion with killer songs like “Come Alive”, “Bustle and Flow”, “My Fate” following one another.
Still, the band released four studio albums, one live and one covers album with Corabi, who certainly have his share of fans, who won’t be very happy with Glenn on board. And on the other hand, this one, their fifth album, should be considered as one of their best so far…
