Simon RushworthHalestorm — Everest (Atlantic Records)
It was AC/DC who said it best of all: It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll).
After almost three decades Halestorm are still climbing.
By naming their new album Everest it’s not as if Lzzy Hale and co. feel they’ve already reached the rock and roll summit.
Far from it.
Woe betide anyone who interprets this record as the sound of a band that’s somehow peaked.
Everest is, in fact, proof of a kick-ass combo that continues to scale new heights while keeping their feet firmly on the ground.
The US hard rockers only need to look at the company they kept in Birmingham last month to realise the job’s not done just yet.
Halestorm fully deserved their place on Black Sabbath’s Back To The Beginning benefit bill.
But a 28-year career seemed like a flash in the pan set against the enduring might of Metallica, Guns N Roses, Slayer and, of course, the late, great Ozzy Osbourne.
Everest is a record that’s representative of the journey, rather than the final destination.
It recognises the highs… and the lows.
It’s the next step on an adventure that’s long since seen Hale, brother Arejay, partner Joe Hottinger and Josh Smith set their sights on global success.
And it evidences a band edging ever closer to the very top.
Everest is height of hard rock
Darkness Always Wins was a foreboding first glimpse of Everest but it’s not all doom and gloom where Halestorm’s sixth studio album’s concerned.
There’s optimism in the melancholy and hope constantly jostles for position with anger. Lzzy Hale doesn’t ever try to sugarcoat the tough times and her honest appraisal of a challenging period — on and off the road — hits home hard.
But the sheer passion and commitment underpinning songs including the furious opener Fallen Star and the riveting Rain Your Blood On Me scream defiance, determination and dogged self-belief.
If there’s more than a hint of early Evanescence on Darkness Always Wins then Everest is a melting pot of creative styles.
K-I-L-L-I-N-G sounds like L7 making sweet punk-fuelled thrash with Metallica and the heartfelt How Will You Remember Me could be a mid-80s Kiss ballad.
Hale has mastered the art of most of hard rock’s myriad styles over the years and it’s her instinctive ability to make music in the mould of both Pat Benatar and Pantera that sets this generational talent apart.
That there were thousands of non-plussed punters at Back To The Beginning who’d never even heard of Halestorm says more about the UK’s rock and metal fans inexplicably dropping the ball than the quality of the Grammy award winning Pennsylvanians.
And the band’s first album in three years is a typically compelling affair.
Everest? It’s summit special.
