Album: Dreamin’ In A Casket
Year: 2007
Genre: Glam/Sleaze Metal / Heavy Metal
Nothing but power and energy here! This record evokes the same reaction from me
every time I play it, “Goddamn I love this fucking record!!!” Yes, those expletives are essential because
that’s what a great heavy metal rock ‘n roll album should make you exclaim. Don’t get alarmed by the sleaze or glam metal
tags that go along with this band. Hardcore
Superstar is not for the weak. Dreamin’
In A Casket is what you’ve always hoped Motley Crue, Skid Row, Ratt and
even more recent acts like Backyard Babies and Crashdiet would sound like. Many
of those bands dabbled the weightier, more aggressive end of the metal pool at
times but never dove in head-first, full-bore into it. This is the recording that Hardcore Superstar
said, “Fuck it. Let’s make it heavy and
cut out the bullshit.” Job well-done gentlemen.
They cranked everything to 11 and created a razor-sharp record that demolishes
from first to last note for just what might be the best release in the glam/sleaze
metal world. Yep, I know that is a
strange claim for a record not released pre-Nirvana, but this not an
exaggeration: this album is a straight up beast.
Dreamin’ In A Casket starts with the boisterous
“Need No Company” and doesn’t step off the gas for the following 11 songs. There is nary a trace of a ballad, a
non-distorted guitar, a moody intro or a blues-based rock riff as Hardcore
Superstar flex their muscles throughout and rip at you with nothing but hooks
that force you to bite your lip and bang that head accordingly. Make sure you’re in the clear because you
might even throw up a fist or two. In
the 80s, all those LA hair bands were taking what Sweet did 10 years before
them and putting their own spin on it.
Hardcore Superstar are just as well-versed in 70s glam rock as they are
in thrash metal ethos. At first the
songs appear primitive, but, really, it’s that they are composed so well that
the flow of every part is seamless. The instruments
are massive and are produced and mixed as perfectly as any heavy record out
there. Joakim Berg has as keen and
unique sense of melody and knows exactly how and when to use his accomplished
range and tone. It’s quite a lengthy
record but it zooms by and makes me wish a couple more songs had made it to
tape. That’s a true testament to
greatness! This album was such a
surprise and a welcomed breath of fresh air from the typical modern era thrash,
doom, black, death fare that is so prominent in metal; an era that is overtly
willing to snub anything that resembles the Hollywood scene of long ago. All the “cvlt” metal people out there can
keep listening to bands that sound like they were recorded in a garbage
can. True fans of metal will blast this
record with two horns up approval.
Listen to "This Is For The Mentally Damaged" here.
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