Artist: 5 Star Grave
Title: Drugstore Hell
Genre: Modern Metal
Release Date: 25th May 2012
Label: Massacre Records
Album Review
Italian 5 STAR GRAVE (previously GROUND ZERO) was founded in 2005 and they set themselves as a fusion of Thrash and Heavy Metal with Punk attitude and Industrial atmosphere, with Melodic Death Metal tendencies and even some Glam sheen thrown in for a good measure, all going under the flag of Modern Metal and promise to provoke listeners out of a comfort zone of “political correctness”. In late May they released their sophomore LP ‘Drugstore Hell’.
From the titles of the songs you can indeed get a feel of some irony and ruffling of feathers, but let’s face it, in this day and age does anything manage to shock anymore? In that respect it’s bit too over-ambitious, though a touch of humour is always welcomed, you’d get bored by those who take themselves far too seriously and to that they provide a good alternative. But with that said touch of humour it should be expected to be within the Sleaze Metal tradition and therefore may disappoint some. Musically though, the fusion is quite interesting and with so much in the melting pot it manages to work, just about, it steps on the edge of the yes and no. ‘Daddy’ and ‘Dead Girls Don’t Say No’ even show that Glam/ Sleaze can manage to squeeze itself musically and not just lyrically into this variety of styles. The former especially stands out, catchy underlined by keyboards and inclusion of female vocals.
‘Love Affair With The Beast’ is superb with its unbridled and straightforward energy, easily mixing Heavy Metal with Punk/Hardcore attitude as its strongest style forerunners, and a pure head-banging frenzy. The vocal approaches throughout work really well and together with music showcase this as a very diverse work. ‘Boy A’ I’d pick out for its far out affinity to LAIBACH within one of the vocal approaches, indeed the guitar work has something of the Industrial in its mechanical feel to the riffing with some futuristic-sounding keyboards (which seem to make fun of themselves as well). ‘When The Lights Go Out’ is another of superbly catching songs, probably a best representative of Modern Metal, a more stream-lined number if you like.
5 GRAVE STAR’s taken a road that is not very easy and they’re in the category of either ‘hate it’ or ‘dig it’. It may be that their stake to originality is bringing together what they enjoy most of different styles, but the way they do it is down to them and at least they’re not far too much of an aping and clone-prone band. The melodic catchiness of the punchy songs with great deal of energy behind them, songs that also offer a fun aspect and call for enjoyment in the “let your hair down” and “stop taking yourself and everything so goddamn seriously” way create an album that can be enjoyed when you’re in a mood for it and at least it doesn’t bore with generic clichés.
Tracklist
01. Terminal Bedroom
02. Death Put A Smile On My Face
03. Love Affair With The Beast
04. Daddy
05. Death Times Eleven
06. No Devil LiveD oN
07. Dead Girls Don’t Say No
08. Boy A
09. If
10. When The Lights Go Out
11. Lemmings
Line-up
Claudio Ravinale – vocals
Andrea Minolfi – bass guitar, vocals
Theirrry Bertone – lead guitar
Herve De Zulian – synth
Alessandro Blengino – rhythm guitar
Gabriele Lingue – drums
Websites
www.5stargrave.com/ / www.myspace.com/5stargrave
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 7
Sound: 8
Total: 7.5 / 10
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