Aiden – Disguises.
I must admit that I had to look a bit into the vastness of the internet to know what I was getting myself into.
I have heard of this band before, but somehow they passed me by. So I can approach this CD completely unprejudiced.
According to the band info, the musical direction is supposed to be a mix of horror punk and post-hardcore, which personally puts me off anyway, because it’s a simplistic way of categorizing that usually leads the listener, or reader, down the wrong path.
And here is my very own impression of the CD.
The opener is a well-produced, absolutely fat track called "The Devil Eyes," which seems to set the entire direction. Evil guitars, a deep bass, and a lot of melody that sometimes reminds me of classic heavy metal like Blind Guardian or Gamma Ray. Just a bit more evil!!!
So here we go. "Horror Queen" breaks through directly and comes across as very likable despite the cliché horror lyrics. Light screams, relatively clear melodic singing by frontman Will Franciss, who is constantly striving not to lose any hardness and grit.
“Malevolent Conversion,” the second track of the CD, seamlessly follows and increasingly reminds me of “My Chemical Romance,” which is not meant negatively at all. Harmonized vocals, good arrangements, and of course, as it should be, everything is very fat and hit-worthy produced. And right there lies the weakness already with the third piece. It simply doesn’t sound honest; it sounds like the big mass. But we don’t want to judge too hastily.
With the next piece, there definitely comes a musical masterpiece that completely blows me away, “A Portrait Of The Artist” is bursting with ideas and great musical creation. And I must say that I like the voice more and more with each track.
In “Shine,” pop-punk is also unpacked, which makes me want to backtrack immediately, because one should be able to maintain a certain direction. Here, yet again, a “HIT” has been produced that will probably make it to the main stage of Rock am Ring, where 300,000 will sing along to the chorus, and the casual rockers will listen to SIDO again 10 minutes after the set. An album for the masses with good ideas and good approaches, but we haven’t heard everything yet.
And unfortunately, it continues seamlessly. Every song has great hit potential, every song is very well produced and arranged.
Here, it’s less about the love for music and more about the love for success. And therefore, despite all the effort put into it, it comes across as insincere.
An album that leaves mixed feelings after one listen. Now I have it... It’s just radio-friendly, convertible-friendly... and in relation to my city Düsseldorf, even Königsallee-friendly.
It’s a shame; I expected more, but this album will surely find about 7,500,000 buyers.
