“Welcome to the wasteland” is the debut album by American melodic hard rock band “Bad City”. This release turned out to be an unexpectedly pleasant surprise despite initial reserves regarding the modern approach on the songwriting.
Yes, there is a modern feel to the album, but the traditional rock elements here definitely outweigh the modern. And `Bad City’ has managed to combine the most identifiable characteristic of the melodic rock/hard rock genre: For starters the album is filled with twin guitar melodies on the opening riffs, on the choruses, during the solos-courtesy of Max Perenchio and Tom Schleiter; In addition the choruses are consistently large, sometimes they come out more anthemic, other times more playful and glamorous. For that matter lead singer Josh Caddy takes up on such diverse vocal performances spanning from `Queen’ to `Danger Danger’. Finally the rhythm section of drummer Kevin Kane and Jake Serek explore a wide range of rhythm patterns moving from groovy tempos to 80’s big tom rhythmic. Favorite tracks include `Take me for a ride’, `Wild life’ and `Straight to the grave’.
So naturally the performances tend to be very energetic, diverse and differentiated from one another. `Welcome to the wasteland’ is indeed good time melodic hard rock yet one reaches the conclusion that you need a good number of plays to totally come to terms with the album; It is not due to complicated arrangements or anything particularly hard to listen to, but simply because it brings together so may different rock approaches- while melody is the consistent element that keeps the `Bad City’ structure together and makes their debut so infectious.
01. Showdown In Central Park
02. Take Me For A Ride
03. Do You Believe In Rock N Roll
04. Wildlife
05. Fire In The Pouring Rain
06. Call Paul Stanley
07. Heatwave
08. Look Out!
09. Touch
10. Straight To The Grave
11. Don't Stop (Japanese Bonus Track)
12. War On Love (Japanese Bonus Track)
Josh Caddy (lead vocals)
Max Perenchio (guitar)
Tom Schleiter (guitar)
Jake Serek (bass)
Kevin Kane (drums)
Bad City – Welcome To The Wasteland 2010 Japan Edition
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