CD Review: Stone Diamond's 'We Stole The Stars From The Black Night'

Stone Diamond
We Stole The Stars From The Black Night
Davin Enterprises

With ties to New York and Germany, Stone Diamond rocks out with some heady blues-inspired tunes with an alternative--almost grungy--edge. The solid vocals are not too loud or intrusive. There are rock harmonies and swirling guitar melodies that do not disappoint. The entire album was produced, composed, and engineered by lead vocalist and bassist, Cy. Cy is joined by Josh on vocals and guitar, along with The Tongue on drums. The trio perform hard-hitting, yet melodic anthems of blues-rock greatness. "Tattoo" leaves its mark with Soundgarden-esque vocals and guitar arrangements. "U Know" is a more languid tune with grungy guitar arrangements that meander with a mysterious beat that is more thriller or spy film soundtrack related than modern rock band performance. At any rate, this showcases the diverse song stylings and sounds Stone Diamond has no problem creating. "When We Were Young" contains a little alt-country rock and blues elements with a classy, almost vintage feel. The guitar and percussion beats resemble early U2. "Long Hard 5 Days" reaches into some grungy, rock-infused music with electronic voicings and punchy bass. Overall, there are eleven tracks that feature a range of grungy, alt-rock, and blues-infused concoctions that are not for the faint of heart (aka Top 40 listener). However, the songs may make the Top 40 list in the future, but Stone Diamond contains a hard edge that is surprisingly easy to listen to. ~ Matthew Forss 

CD Review: Adam Cross' 'Sirens'

Adam Cross

Sirens
Self-Release

The power-ballad is perfected by Adam Cross and his work on Sirens. The slightly gruff vocals border on a lighter version of Creed mixed with a little U2, David Gray, and The Fray. The power-ballads are driven by spacious guitar solos with a thunderous full sound. The back-up vocals on “Scared To Pieces” breaks up the booming drum-kit and all-encompassing guitar noise. “Time Of Our Lives” and “Burning Castles” are other songs with a big guitar sound and percussion set-up. The lighter “Save Me” contains more pop-centered vocals with a little Pearl Jam-meets-Savage Garden thing going on. The ten songs contain similar arrangements with slower ballads and power-ballads with full guitar sounds and big-time percussion—not to mention—innovative vocals that are difficult to characterize and describe. Though, “Tragedy” is the only song with a fast, dub-step beat throughout the song. Normally, the last song on an album tends to be fairly introspective and uneventful; but this is certainly not the case with Sirens. In fact, the best guitar solo on the album occurs in this song. Overall, Adam produces a very solid release of relationship tunes with smart lyrics and excellent backing percussion and vocals. In short, the power-rock ballads of the 1990’s are back…which is a very, very good thing.

Review by Matthew Forss
Rating:  5 stars (out of 5)