REALITY SUITE – Live at Alpha Wave Studios + Standalone Single (2020)

REALITY SUITE - Live at Alpha Wave Studios + Standalone Single (2020) full
HERE

New Jersey rockers REALITY SUITE are releasing ‘Live at Alpha Wave Studio’ for all the fans eager for more music from the band. With most countries locked down due to COVID-19 pandemic, Reality Suite opened the paths for their fans around the world to listen to their performance 12 songs in a their first live album, including their hits ‘Kiss the Ring’, ‘Dead to Me’ and ‘Bury Me Alive’.
The band also released another live song, but as standalone single.
Fans will have the chance to listen to Kimmii Heart, Brian King, Joe Padula, and Antonio Valenti perform their songs with in a room full of their hard rocking energy.

Capturing a live performance is always a challenge – for the techies, for the artist – and then for the mixer / masterer. Fortunately, this one proudly falls into the ones that is properly recorded with a clean / no saturation sound.
Showcasing just the right amount of enthusiastic audience ambience, the album kicks off with ‘Wingman’, and as on opener, it really delivers – setting the audience (and the listener at home) at ease with some tight riffing, tuneful vocals and appreciation for tuning in. Reality Suite can deliver live, without question.

The vocals cut through the mix well and the enunciation is good, they don’t sound like they’re floating on top of the rest of the band. There’s enough definition to hear the guitar work, and the slap and thud of the kit is reassuringly crisp, but with enough fizz to retain the live atmosphere.
On ‘Bury Me Alive’, we get nicely-judged backing vocals for the main vocal hooks, while the lead gets to fly off and showcase endurance and power.
With ‘Cut, Burn, Bruise’ we have more powerhouse harmonies, which I always appreciate, and some playful rhythms for them to glue onto. There’s a different flavor to this tune, and it’s good to hear a different tempo being flexed. Some tight syncopation for the band to latch onto, as well, which they do with some aplomb.

Good to hear some hard rocking guitar squeals get exorcised in ‘Blame It On Angels’. This song sports some properly angular melodies and I’m loving it. The guitar gets a dynamic workout, too – riffing, squalling and tastefully soloing over a suddenly spacious rhythm section.
‘Skinn’ has a different feel again, and the bass gets to shine at the top of this one, and throughout. There’s also a great unison singing section which gets the excitement pumping.
‘Grave’ welcomes in a more pensive moment, and it suits the sexy Kimmii Heart voice nicely. It’s good to experience that half-time feel in the pre-chorus, allowing the chorus to take off.

‘Familiar Taste of Poison’ is a slightly schizophrenic tune that allows the singer some headroom to showcase just how she good she is, showing some tender unvarnished falsetto and natural vibrato which is bang on. And then she rips it out again to emote in harsher tone. It’s properly impressive, and I’m glad there’s a song like this in the set, a Halestorm cover.
We get some audience participation in ‘Wrong With Me’, and we groove anew in the playful ‘Dead To Me’. The vocal gets a little overdriven for ‘Kiss The Ring’ and that creates a nice edge to latch onto.

What we have here is a confident band whose confidence is well-founded – as it understands that dynamics keep a show interesting.
Rock solid songwriting has laid the foundation for a live album that offers some shining performances – so it seems like fate dictated a good show for them to capture. Better yet, the performances don’t dip as the gig progresses.
However, they don’t play like machines, there are enough variations and slight moments of looseness to champion the very human. Live albums can be tough to review, but this was easy – easy to get and easy to recommend.

 

01 – Wingman (Live)
02 – Bury Me Alive (Live)
03 – Cut, Burn, Bruise (Live)
04 – Blame It on Angels (Live)
05 – Skinn (Live)
06 – Grave (Live)
07 – Familiar Taste of Poison (Live) *
08 – Live Now Forever (Live)
09 – Wrong with Me (Live)
10 – Dead to Me (Live)
11 – Kiss the Ring (Live)
12 – Die Dreaming (Live)
13 – Zombie (Video Version Live) [Bonus] +

* Halestorm cover
+ The Cranberries cover

Kimmii Heart: Lead Vocals
Brian King: Drums, Vocals
Joe Padula: Guitars, Vocals
Antonio Valenti: Bass, Vocals

 

BUY IT
music.apple.com/us/album/1515143168
www.amazon.co.uk/Zombie-Video-Version-Live/dp/B087D9N9NQ

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