Hollywood Vampires is something quite special and unique, and these guys have been making waves in the rock community these past few years thanks to a string a marvelous live performances and a pretty damn wicked debut LP. As you can probably tell, I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of their follow-up and I am beyond pleased to say that this new 16-track offering of theirs rules.

 

The line-up alone ought to send all you fans and lovers of classic rock into a hysterical frenzy (and I do mean that positively!). Let us be frank here; the Alice Cooper/Johnny Depp/Joe Perry constellation is out of this world in terms of skill and talent, but when you add such talented players as Glen Sobel (Alice Cooper), Chris Wyse (The Cult, Ozzy Osbourne), and Jeff Beck (just to list a few names) to the mix, it just becomes something else entirely. In short, the ensemble is firing on all cylinders here and even though “Rise” is a slightly sprawling album in terms of all the various influences and different stylistic elements that course through it, it is as charming and focused as they come.

One of the first things that struck me when I pressed play was how massive and crushing “Rise” sounds. For lack of a better phrase, it is monstrously heavy at times and yet primarily rooted in 60s and 70s rock music with a solid amount of psychedelic and pop-like undertones to it. On top of that, it is overflowing with excitement and great songwriting, and there are both hooks and thrills aplenty to be discovered throughout this dark and glorious piece of work. As with its predecessor, there are cover renditions to be found on “Rise” too, most notably Bowie’s “Heroes” and Johnny Thunder’s “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory”, but the real gems and highlights include originals ala “The Boogieman Surprise”, “Welcome to Bushwackers”, and the hauntingly beautiful album closer “Congratulations”. In fact, the only track that did nothing for me was the superfluous and unremarkable “We Gotta Rise”.

As entertaining and cool as the self-titled output was, “Rise” simply blows it out of the water in terms of depth and quality, and it stands tall and proud as one of the year’s greatest and most riveting rock albums.

 

https://www.hollywoodvampires.com/