ToxicRose
Total Tranquility
City Of Lights Records/Burning Skull Records
2016
Toxic Rose are a quartet of musicians from Sweden (where-else?) that seem to mix a few somewhat alien between them tendencies in music to form what they hope to be something exciting and not completely by the numbers. To do so they seem to be going for a bizarre union of a glam flavored rock that’s a bit Crashdiet like, (a bit like on their third album) combined with a harder edged melodic metal that’s obviously not balls out but they manage to get things pretty “right” without having to try too hard.
They have one of those “Necrolord Blue” sort of covers – which I doubt is the work of Kristian Wåhlin but usually would be utilized by extreme metal bands but the logo as well as the name sort of throw you off a bit and they dress a bit like a neo-Motley Crue variant of “BVB”… nothing too original there then. However without demanding laurels for originality, the melodies of most of their songs tend to be quite catchy, more-so than a lot of other bands, including the aforementioned Black Veil Brides…
The album opens strongly with the dynamic “World of Confusion”, which is followed by the heavier, but equally punchy “The Silent End of Me”.
Hardly changing the template or riffing, “Killing the Romance” just stirs things enough to not allow things to get boring.
“Sinner” slows down and tries to be anthemic, which proves to be a little more difficult, but them Swede-boys still manage to avoid being disgraced.
In “We Own the Night” baffled me a bit. It almost manages to be an anthem to sing-along, but it feels as if it’s missing, I dunno maybe 2-3 verses and a break… it does have lyrics, but not too many… ehrm could have been a great song but the band probably got a bit lazy or hit a writers’ block, I dunno.
“Reckless Society” is wimpier and almost like early Crashdiet, but with a ton of keys… hm….
“Clarity” is not bad, but it lacks the spark that will make it great.
“Because of You” is a nice power ballad and if they are smart they should make a single/video out of it… cliché as it might be.
Talking about cliché sounding tunes, “We All Fall Down” is also decent, but not great, another almost cookie cutter “glamtastic tune” that’s only set apart by a couple of quieter moments.
Lastly, “Total Tranquility” is almost prog at some eight plus minutes and with its rather weird chorus that sticks about a while more than you’d expect, almost as if it worked as a verse… haha. Bizarre and I’m not sure whether I like it enough…
The Swedes are definitely worth checking out and could definitely be a force to be reckoned with in the future. Now, if they also include a less death metal cover or at least sleaze it up a bit, it would be almost perfect...
They have one of those “Necrolord Blue” sort of covers – which I doubt is the work of Kristian Wåhlin but usually would be utilized by extreme metal bands but the logo as well as the name sort of throw you off a bit and they dress a bit like a neo-Motley Crue variant of “BVB”… nothing too original there then. However without demanding laurels for originality, the melodies of most of their songs tend to be quite catchy, more-so than a lot of other bands, including the aforementioned Black Veil Brides…
The album opens strongly with the dynamic “World of Confusion”, which is followed by the heavier, but equally punchy “The Silent End of Me”.
Hardly changing the template or riffing, “Killing the Romance” just stirs things enough to not allow things to get boring.
“Sinner” slows down and tries to be anthemic, which proves to be a little more difficult, but them Swede-boys still manage to avoid being disgraced.
In “We Own the Night” baffled me a bit. It almost manages to be an anthem to sing-along, but it feels as if it’s missing, I dunno maybe 2-3 verses and a break… it does have lyrics, but not too many… ehrm could have been a great song but the band probably got a bit lazy or hit a writers’ block, I dunno.
“Reckless Society” is wimpier and almost like early Crashdiet, but with a ton of keys… hm….
“Clarity” is not bad, but it lacks the spark that will make it great.
“Because of You” is a nice power ballad and if they are smart they should make a single/video out of it… cliché as it might be.
Talking about cliché sounding tunes, “We All Fall Down” is also decent, but not great, another almost cookie cutter “glamtastic tune” that’s only set apart by a couple of quieter moments.
Lastly, “Total Tranquility” is almost prog at some eight plus minutes and with its rather weird chorus that sticks about a while more than you’d expect, almost as if it worked as a verse… haha. Bizarre and I’m not sure whether I like it enough…
The Swedes are definitely worth checking out and could definitely be a force to be reckoned with in the future. Now, if they also include a less death metal cover or at least sleaze it up a bit, it would be almost perfect...