17 CRASH – Hit The Prey (2018)
“Hit The Prey” is the name of the new CD from Italian hard rockers 17 CRASH coming out next March 30th through rock label Volcano Records.
Formed in 2011, according to their Bio 17 CRASH owes its characteristic sound to the glamorous glammy ’80s American scene.
However “Hit The Prey” – mixed and mastered by experienced Simone Mularoni (Lione/Conti) at Domination Studio with special guest Alessio Lucatti on keyboards – showcases the band’s music now infected by a generous dose of Melodic Rock plus some AOR flourishes.
After intro ‘Approaching’, proper opener ‘Lies’ makes clear what 17 CRASH is all about: fell good party hard rock, on this track with a cool hair metal feel and nice harmony vocals arrangements.
‘Can’t Touch’ blends rocking guitars with a tongue-in-cheek attitude in a melody thet reminds me of Aussie White Widdow.
The AOR touch appear with the highly melodious ‘Don’t You Break My Life’ adding lots of stabbing synths and again, a multi-layered effective chorus. Really good song.
The uptempo ‘Out Of It’ showcases the band sounding very classic with pianos over the electic guitars (a bit of EXTREME here) then ‘Run All Night’ is more hard rocking yet still very ’80s again with punchy but melodic rhythm akin early ’90s AFTER HOURS.
‘Scream My Name’ bring a welcomed variation; it’s a little more harder than the previous material, even with some early QUEENSRYCHE on it (The Warning era) and a good number to showcase frontman Ros Crash vocal power.
‘In the Eyes of a Woman’ is the ballad staring low but then morphing into a solid midtempo with a fine atmosphere in the vein of PROPHET (Cycle Of The Moon album).
Remaining tracks are good as well, being ‘Brighter Day’ another feel-good uptempo melodic rocker with cool melodies / chorus, ‘Dead City’ brings back some good ole hair metal, while closer ‘Hit The Prey’ rocks via melodic hard rock riffs, anthemic verses and synths, again very well arranged in the harmony vocals department.
17 CRASH’s “Hit The Prey” is much, much better than I expected. You know, the press release talks about influences from the US sleazy scene (Guns N’ Roses, La Guns), but this album is definitely melodic hard rock oriented.
However 17 CRASH doesn’t compose and play melodic hard rock ‘by numbers’. No, their songs have very interesting arrangements, both instrumentally and vocally, and even the synth effects / sounds chosen escape from the ordinary.
Highly Recommended
01 – Approaching
02 – Lies
03 – Can’t Touch
04 – Don’t You Break My Life
05 – Out of It
06 – Run All Night
07 – Scream My Name
08 – In the Eyes of a Woman
09 – Brighter Day
10 – Dead City
11 – Hit the Prey
Ros Crash – Vocals
Frankie – Guitar
Steve ” Poison “- Guitar
Lawrence Kaos – Bass
Phil Hill – Drums
Alessio Lucatti – Keyboards, Synths
PRE ORDER:
www.facebook.com/17crash/
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