On the surface, a band blending driving hard rock with powerful ballads would seem like a fairly boilerplate proposition in a world already populated by
Shinedown
,
Three Days Grace
, and any number of other faceless post-grunge acts. Fortunately,
Halestorm
have their not-so-secret weapon, singer
Lzzy Hale
, whose powerful vocals easily set the band apart from its peers on its sophomore album,
The Strange Case Of...
. Delivering another versatile performance,
Hale
helps to give every song that special something, adding the right amount of snarl and grit to more aggressive songs like "Love Bites (So Do I)," while also bringing genuine passion to the more emotional "In Your Room." Her ability to convey emotion without being dramatic is an asset that
take full advantage of, and to some extent, probably rely on. This isn't to insinuate that the compositions backing up
are bad, but the music, while solidly written and cleanly executed, isn't anything that fans of the genre haven't already heard before. It's a bit of a boon, then, that the strength that
play to is an exceptional one, and anyone that has grown tired of the current crop of meatheaded hard rock bands trying to seem sensitive would do well to give
a spin. ~ Gregory Heaney