Review: Halestorm - Hello, It's Mz Hyde

 If you're needing a dose of modern, hard hitting all-American hard rock with viscous and powerful female vocals to front the proceeding's then Pennsylvania's Halestorm are your best option to look at. Of course that description there of how they sound was quite detailed and was extremely specified, so if you are really needing all those intricacies in the music you need, perhaps you are troubled in some way and should seek some help regarding your... I don't know where I'm going with this. I was just trying to do a weird off-piste ramble in the style of Craig Ernest Kneale one of the best bloggers around today. Anyway, Halestorm with their combination of female vocals and hard rock with more of a metallic influence seen more typically by the likes of Shinedown and Black Stone Cherry makes the group pretty unique in their own right and has gained them a considerable amount of popularity and followers with the release of just one album. So, to entice this fanbase as they patiently wait for second album The Strange Case Of... the group have for us the fiery EP Hello It's Mz Hyde to get us prepared.

 This EP is very much alive and kicking in it's sheer fury and adrenaline as the vocal performance of frontwoman Lzzy Hale ("Andy, there's another typo in your blog. Surely you mean Lizzy?") is packed with an impassioned intensity on opener Love Bites (So Do I) as she tears out lines like "I've felt pleasure without pain/ My soul you'll never tame" and "That bitch can eat her heart out!" with the wild and untamed vigor that sees her come close to growling out the lyrics while the band's thrashy and furious performance just allows for all Hell to break loose.
 At times this performance can feel a little more refined and sound like something more crafted for American radio and with it's bouncy rhythms with clapping in the background Rock Show has something of a cringe-worthy quality about it, but Hale's sassy vocals and more shimmering work of guitar from Joe Hottinger and Josh Smith.
 And while the dark thrashy velocity is upheld across Daughters of Darkness there's a very pleasant and uplifting ending to the EP found in the Southern country influenced ballad Here's To Us. It's anything but sophisticated as we're treated to lines like "Here's to you, fill the glass/ Cuz the last few nights have kicked my ass!" and "If they give you hell/ Tell them Go fuck yourselves." but the passionate performance from the band and warmth in Hale's vocals brings the song together as a whole to make it a very charming and beautiful ballad.
 Overall, this EP is a very cool way to introduce listeners to what they may expect on the group's next release, with a downpour of wild emotion and intensity as the songs pack a serious punch and have a lot of heart within them. if the next album sounds weak in any way, the band can be thankful that they have this to fall back on.

 Halestorm's Hello, It's Mz Hyde i out now via Roadrunner. The band will tour the UK from 12th-17th of February with Shinedown.