STEELSHINE – Rock N’ Roll Made A Man Out Of Me (2012)

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STEELSHINE, the new project featuring King Kobra guitarist Dave Henzerling, Greg Leon Invasion and Big Cock drummer John Covington, and former Adler’s Appetite vocalist Seann ‘Tarsha’ Nicols — are giving the final touches to their self-titled debut to be released early next year.

As sneak preview we have “Rock N’ Roll Made A Man Out Of Me”, an EP comprising some tracks of the new album plus exclusives to this release.

Henzerling has played in Keel, Lizzy Borden, Big Cock and Tunnel, but is best known for his work with King Kobra during their ’80s golden days under the name David Michael-Philips.

Henzerling, who handles guitars, keyboards, percussion and bass in Steelshine had this project brewing in his head for some time, a slightly different stuff from his recent works.

This is Hard Rock with nods to the eighties / nineties style infused with some bluesy melodies, but all delivered with a modern and updated sound.

“Laughing With The Sinners” starts with a deep scream and a bluesy sharp riff. There’s a fat rhythm section with a remarkable drum sound (love that snare) behind the potent ‘classic rock’ vocals of Seann Nicols. The guitars really screams and Henzerling (who also produces) adds some flanger mix effects making the track sound quite modern.

You can’t resist to a chorus like this; “Now I won’t play this game, so I might not be a winner / You won’t catch me crying’ with the saints – I’m laughin’ with the sinners”. Killer song.

“Rock N’ Roll Made A Man Out Of Me” is full of R’NR charm adorned with surrounding vintage keyboards (Henzerling is a clever arranger). Hot track… tap your feet guys.

“Paparazzi” shows that Steelshine isn’t the typical Henzerling stuff. This is a cover of a Lady Gaga song (you’ve read it correctly) and it really works. Steelshine make this sound like a modern Led Zepp with a big groove and turning really melodic at the chorus.

“B.F.A.” on the other hand, is a stomper, straight uptempo hard rocker full of fire.

The set sontinues with variety on the next track “Psychedelic Girl”, one of the best and more original tunes on the EP. It’s a semi-midtempo melodic hard rocker with some Euro influences, great vocal harmonies, precise guitars and cool keyboards all over.

“Devil Moon” returns to more classic sounds in a track that pays tribute to many Classic Rock acts. Henzerling goes acoustic for the most part even adding some mandolin here and there. Elaborated yet ‘classic friendly’ tune with nice atmosphere.

I truly enjoyed all the tracks included in this Steelshine presentation.

Really well composed and varied songs (yet homogeneous) where Dave Henzerling demonstrates that, in addition to being a very good guitarist (and a fine keyboard & percussion player) as musician he’s looking from something different musically.

This material is hard & classic rock based but a twist on some tracks, all highly ear-friendly and very well produced by Dave himself between Phoenix (US) and Vancouver (Canada) studios. Even Canuck cult legends such as Marc LaFrance and Mick Dalla-Vee (The Guess Who) contributes as well.

Recommended.

01 – Laughing With The Sinners

02 – Rock N’ Roll Made A Man Out Of Me

03 – Paparazzi

04 – B.F.A.

05 – Psychedelic Girl

06 – Devil Moon

Seann Nicols: lead & background vocals

David Henzerling: guitars, bass, keyboards, percussion

John Covington: drums

Marc LaFrance, Mick Dalla-Vee, Steve Santos, Kris Seuberling: background vocals

BUY IT !

itunes.apple.com/us/artist/steelshine/id503067442