Hearts & Hand Grenades – Where I Begin
Hearts & Hand Grenades – Where I Begin
Eclipse Records
Release Date: 26/01/24
Running Time: 35:53
Review by Simon Black
10/10
Hearts & Hand Grenades are definitely a band in the category of one to keep an eye on. For a band that up until the pandemic was ploughing the more lucrative but localised furrow of playing covers on their native East Coast USA, they made a key and brave decision to switch to original material, and their success since has been spectacular. The Hard Rock scene is a crowded one, given that no-one ever leaves it and plenty of newcomers continue to join, so to have produced three albums of frankly blisteringly original material in three short years is an achievement in and of itself, but these guys and gals have also toured in Europe in the last year, and all from a standing start. I was lucky enough to see them play here in Cardiff last year, so I’m afraid I claimed Editor’s privilege and grabbed this one for myself.
“Where I Begin” is tonally slightly different from its two predecessors. This is a much darker and moodier record, despite the more conventional Melodic groove of opener ‘Burn (By My Fire)’ and the tongue in cheek of ‘I Just Want My Rock’, lyrically this release is browsing more emotive territory and consequently the whole album follows with a much heavier low-end tone than I was expecting, but my word it doesn’t half work well.
Where this band works par excellence is that their sound and influences really run the gamut and can cross appeal across the generations, while still sounding fresh, modern and relevant. As always Vocalist and Bassist Stephanie Wlosinski holds the attention, as well as a being a pounding player and one hell of a front woman live, we see a much more sensitive and emotive side to her delivery, with moody ballad ‘Let Me Down’ hitting the back of the neck and stealing the top track slot for this old hack. But the rich groove of this band is weaved through all four of the players who have a chemistry that you could make fireworks out of if you could capture it.
It would have been easy enough to just keep ploughing the same groove, but Hearts & Hand Grenades have shown there’s way more under the hood than keeping the same old 6/4 boogies going. I have a feeling this is still only the beginning for a band that has so far pulled off the unimaginable and got the top score for three consecutive albums.
‘Burn (By My Fire)’ Official Video
TRACKLISTING:
01. Burn (By My Fire)
02. Where I Begin
03. Boom
04. Silver
05. Let Me Down
06. Way Down Low
07. Better Off Alone
08. I Just Want My Rock
09. Anywhere But Here
10. Over Again
LINE-UP:
Stephanie Wlosinski – Vocals, Bass
Mike Bress – Guitar, Keyboards
Kenny Blesy – Lead Guitar
Cory Michalski – Drums
LINKS:
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