KISSIN’ DYNAMITE – Ecstasy [Deluxe Edition +2] (2018)

Legendary Metal Blade Records has announced the signing of KISSIN’ DYNAMITE, one of Germany’s most promising rock bands. Sony Music label Columbia will handle affairs and releases of the group in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. First on the agenda is the release of “Ecstasy“, Kissin’ Dynamite’s new studio album, on July 6th.
Produced by Kissin’ Dynamite singer Hannes Braun, “Ecstasy” harks back to the quintet’s energy-laden early days, while at the same time marking a turning point in their eleven-year history.

“Ecstasy” is Kissin’ Dynamite sixth album despite only being in their mid-twenties, and here the band show they’re ready for bigger things.
Like a heady, exhilarating mix of Bon Jovi’s Keep The Faith, Ozzy’s The Ultimate Sin, and the best bits of Helloween’s Pink Bubbles Go Ape, “Ecstasy” is a fantastic, relentless hit factory of absolute bangers. I kid you not.
It’s impossible to keep your mouth to just a grin by the end of track three, the wild Warrant-like stomp of ‘Somebody’s Gotta Do It’; the smile is wide, jubilant, unstrained, and ear to ear.

Head out on the highway on a sunny day with this slew of uptempo hard rock hits a-blasting on the stereo, because speed limits be damned, arms are out the window with fists clenched and pumping and voices are raised in unison with Hannes Braun, whose midrange tone calls to mind a cross between two legends Jon Bon Jovi and Michael Kiske, to the many, many massive choruses.
And there are so many colossal choruses – every one of the thirteen songs has a chorus that would blow the roof off an aircraft hanger, putting a torch to the quality/quantity debate by providing both at every turn.
While highlights do include the reckless abandon of the title track enhanced by Anna Brunner of Exit Eden providing a playful foil to Braun, it is unfair to pick favourites out of this pack of baying wolves.

Kissin’ Dynamite’s roots are firmly in the late Eighties and early Nineties stadium and arena rock – of mountaintop, tassel-jacketed guitar solos, of breaking it down to bass, drums and a stadium hollering back a “woah-oh-oh” – the album doesn’t for one second sound tired, pastiche, or dated, with Braun’s excellent production keeping matters powerful, polished yet still dynamic, framing “Ecstasy” as an utterly joyous playbook of Hard Rock just the way it should be.

I’ve tried to find a cynical take on this album. I’ve tried to underplay it’s qualities to myself, but when you’re confronted with an anthem like ‘You’re Not Alone’, a stomper like ‘Placebo’ where Braun borrows from the Draiman book of chorus-construction and delivery, or the hearty singalong of ‘Waging War’, doubts and scepticisms be damned, to be honest.

For that is the underlying delight and headrush that “Ecstasy” brings: six albums and more than ten years in, Kissin’ Dynamite still sounds like they love every second of being a hard rock band, and a most excellent one at that.
And long may that continue.
Highly Recommended

01. I’ve Got the Fire
02. You’re Not Alone
03. Somebody’s Gotta Do It
04. Ecstasy (feat. Anna Brunner)
05. Still Around
06. Superhuman
07. Placebo
08. Breaking the Silence
09. Waging War
10. One More Time
11. Heart of Stone
12. Wild Wind (Bonus Track)
13. No Time to Wonder (Bonus Track)

Hannes Braun – Vocals
Ande Braun – Guitar
Jim Muller – Guitar
Andi Schnitzer – Drums
Steffen Haile – Bass

PRE ORDER
www.amazon.de/Ecstasy-Deluxe-Kissin-Dynamite/dp/B07CPCFVJX
.