Having never heard of The Amorettes but thinking their name a clever one I gave their debut label release a listen. While listening I did some research, as any good writer shall and should do. The trio hails from Scotland a country that lists many notable artists and bands, especially all female groups such as The Amorettes , that are very recognizable and respected. Reading that Girlschool and The Runaways are two of those I had high hopes of similar sounding tunes. Let me say the music is good and I do believe that this could age well with time and a few more releases, corked with some time spent in the gutters and alleys. My letdown is the lack of melodic choruses and mainlines. Most of the songs are of the AC/DC style music wise, lyrically easy to digest, missing the harmonies I so desire. Your palate may enjoy this if you generally enjoy straight ahead hard rocking’ tunes, which this trio delivers on, and not so concerned about a catchy sing along.
The first song delivers the most potential; “Bull By The Horns” drives hard and the echo on the box is a good idea, good fit here. Moving into “Fire At Will” we still have some power rocking chords with a big sound, which also describes “Get What’s Comin’” although the tempo is reduced by this 3rd song. Now the middle of the release is where I begin to really lose it. Simply stated it seems I have been listening to the same song for 20 minutes at this point. This is where I backup my statement of catchy choruses that stick because people sing ’em. I just don’t envision that with these songs. I did keep listening though because as I said the music is good, and rocking! Thankfully I was rewarded with “Give ‘Em Hell”. This is what I am referring to when it comes to a song to sing along, that will stick. Well done! The next song “Heartbreaker” also has some fine backing harmonies, again this is the winning formula for me.
My hope is that with the amount of live time they seem to be racking up, and with some fine acts to learn from such as Europe, they can find a feeling to add into their music that takes it up a notch. Certainly Europe is such a band to learn just this from. I do want to say that the guitar work is fantastic and should be commended. It is raw and dirty, yet clean enough to come through. I like that the production did not remove or clean up the string work a la Mick Mars on early Crue songs, that sticks with me.
Stand out tracks: “Give ‘Em Hell”
Blair De Abreu
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