One example of these many bands is hard rock act Step Echo. Formed in 2010 in St.
Catherines, the band has as of yet released one album, Jagged. The album is filled with a good old fashioned hard rock
sound with some good classic rock riffs and Joel Degonia’s badass style of singing.
The album has a strong sense of sleaze to it. The first three
tracks alone show this. Just As Messed
starts the album off with a mid-tempo beat, a classic rock guitar riff and Joel’s
simple low toned singing style which he easily turns in to a nice loud wail
that comes rather unexpectedly. The following tracks, Crazy and the slightly faster Champagne
Cocaine both follow this sort of sleaze rock style. They each feature many
addicting hooks and easy-to-sing-along-with melodies to keep the listener
entertained and a live crowd chanting. This sleaze rock sound is revisited
toward the end of the album on I Love It,
which is the sleaziest of the songs, really following the sex, drugs and rock
& roll nature of any good rock song.
The title track to Jagged
is the hardest hitting song on the album. It maintains the sleazy sound from
earlier on the album, mostly thanks to the change of singing style used in this
song. The singing changes from aggressive and angry to free formed and dirty,
back to aggressive. It keeps the listener on the edge of their seat for sure.
The most interesting moment of the album is by far the cover
of the Payolas classic Eyes of a Stranger. Step Echo does a
fantastic job at making this pop song in to a hard rock song, but keeping the
80’s sound and charisma of the original. If you were to listen to the original
version of the song, you’d notice many 80’s music clichés heard in the song,
such as heavy synthesizer/keyboard usage, a very dark sounding background with
a not so talented Peter Gabriel-esque
vocal performance by Paul Hyde (I
myself thought for the longest time that is was in fact a Peter Gabriel song
until a few years ago). Step Echo kept the dark background, added some
keyboards but didn’t over throw them in to the song and heavily improved the
singing. By this point in the album the listener would be used to the singing
style used throughout the album so they know what to expect.
The album ends with Maybe.
This song is a comfortable change from the rest of the album. It maintains a
rather happy sound. It’s accompanied by a lead guitar riff by Les Serran, but is mostly a singer’s
song. Rather than continuously strumming the same chords over and over, the
guitar playing is effectively simplified to simply hitting one chord and
letting it sustain until the next chord is hit, helping the song with its less
than aggressive and more classic rock feeling.
The album has that rare effective conclusion that leaves listeners
with wanting to hear more. Rather than saving filler material or a song that
they weren’t sure fans would enjoy for the end, they ended the album off with
one of their best songs. That alone shows the large amount of thought that went
in to not only making great songs, but making a great all together album. It
only grows on your more the more you listen to it. The band is currently putting
together another album while, as they say “refining their sound”. If that album
is even merely a continuation of Jagged
then it is sure to be great.
ALBUM HIGHLIGHT
“Become You” – This is the song on the
album which proves that the band is more than just another band trying to sound
like they should be making music in the 80’s or so by embracing a more modern
sound. While it doesn’t fit the sleaze rock sound heard mostly throughout the
album, Become You shows intelligence to both the old and the new. It features a
sound similar to that of current alternative rock groups with its “woah” chants
and slower heavy pace. It even has some 90’s influence in terms of its guitar
riff, but maintains the classic rock edge that the band has.
FINAL RATING
8 (Out of 10)
Track List:
1.
|
"Just As Messed"
|
3:05
|
2.
|
"Crazy"
|
3:12
|
3.
|
"Champaign Cocaine"
|
2:30
|
4.
|
"Pieces of Me"
|
4:05
|
5.
|
"Becoming You"
|
5:05
|
6.
|
"Jagged”
|
3:28
|
7.
|
"I’d Be For You"
|
4:20
|
8.
|
"Eyes of a Stranger"
|
4:24
|
9.
|
"I Love It"
|
2:50
|
10.
|
"Living Without Your Love"
|
3:52
|
11.
|
"Maybe”
|
3:30
|
These guys kick ass! Where ever they play, they always put an out of this world show on for everyone. They always play at my favorite bar in town (Honyocker's in Port Colborne) and I am there every time to see them. These guys are truly an inspiration to us all. P.S. don't forget to pick up their album as it is full of amazing songs. If I am not mistaken they will be releasing a new album soon, so stay tuned and go see them, before they hit it big and you have to start paying for tickets to a sold out arena! Cheers!
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