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Extreme — Six (earMUSIC)

Right now it seems the rock gods are giving with one hand and taking away with the other.

Delivering a brand new Extreme record — the first in 15 years — is a generous gesture, for sure.

But this is the same week Kiss kicked off their last ever UK tour.

So is Six — and the promise of Extreme’s headline trek across Britain this autumn — compensation enough for the loss of New York’s ultimate entertainers?
We think so.

Let’s face it: Nuno Bettencourt’s spent far too much time bolstering his bank balance with Rihanna during the last decade.

And save for forming new band Hurtsmile with his brother, Gary Cherone’s been conspicuous by his absence for much of the last decade.

It’s only when you hear both men, alongside Pat Badger and Kevin Figueiredo, teaming up on Six that those years seem utterly wasted.

Because this wonderful record is everything any Extreme could ever hope for.

It’s got a little less of the funk and a whole lot more fire.

But rather passionate bombast than carefree indifference.

There are nods to the band’s hit-laden late 80s/early 90s glory days and a sense that this could be Suadades de Rock part two.

And yet Six has its own dizzying, intriguing identity as Nuno and Gary explore new territory with all the swagger and steely determination of seasoned vets with nothing to prove.

There was a time when it seemed Extreme were resolved to call time on their canon at five albums.

Six is glorious proof that the decision to plough on was inspired.

Can we dare to dream of lucky number seven?

Rise of Extreme metal

Rise bagged Rushonrock’s Red Hot Track Of The Week in March thanks to its ‘peak 80s arena rock’ refrain.

And Six’s intense album opener serves as the perfect reintroduction to one of rock’s greatest ever guitar heroes.

Bettencourt has a blast on Rise, Rebel and Banshee (featuring some serious Van Halen vibes) as the band opts to hit fans with a hot-wired hat-trick of groove-laden bangers.

Latest single Other Side Of The Rainbow is the first curveball here.

It’s soulful, introspective and incredibly affecting. Listen carefully and it’s like Dave Grohl mixed with Manic Street Preachers and The Rembrandts — kinda.

The stunning Small Town Beautiful is Extreme does country/Americana as Bettencourt takes a back seat.

And it’s one of Six’s soaring, sensational highlights.

Few albums are genuinely all killer and no filler but back in the day Extreme II: Pornograffitti could lay claim to that accolade.

And 33 years down the line the classy, sassy Six repeats the trick.

Hurricane joins the list of elite Extreme ballads soaked in dreamy vocal harmonies and subtle fretwork.

But up-tempo Beautiful Girls — with its lyrical nod to prime David Lee Roth — is better still.

A brave and delicate love letter to the opposite sex might seem inappropriate in 2023 but give this choice cut a chance. 

Extreme’s Six appeal was never in doubt after Rise revealed the band’s long-awaited return from the rock and roll wilderness.

But few could have predicted that lead single’s promise would manifest itself in a career classic quite this good.