OUTLOUD – Love Catastrophe (2011)

OUTLOUD history dates back to the year 2004 when was founded in Athens, Greece.
Firewind guitarist and keyboard player Bob Katsionis realized that his then guitar pupil Tony Kash was coming up with some fantastic bone crunching riffs. Katsionis quickly added his Firewind colleague Mark Cross to play drums before recruiting Talon vocalist Chandler Mogel and Kash’s best friend Jason Mercury completed the line up on bass.
The debut album ‘We Rock You To Hell Again’ was released in August 2009 and received massive feedback from the press and fans.

After successful tours and a companion national Greek TV appearance in front of more than one million viewers, the band inked a brand new deal for their sophomore release “Love Catastrophe”, which was recorded in the Summer of 2010 and once again produced by Bob Katsionis and masterfully mixed and mastered by Tommy Hansen.

Claiming Riot, Skid Row and classic era T.N.T. as inspiration, it would be fair to suggest that “Love Catastrophe” actually has glimpses of the aforementioned bands along with everything from a rocked up Europe to Bonfire.
The important thing is that at no time do Outloud come over as a parody or tribute band for any act from the past, what they do manage is to take the vitality and vigour from that era and add elements of more contemporary bands such as (surprise, surprise) Talon or Firewind.

The one thing that stands out right away with the very first listen to this album is the band’s penchant for excellent vocal melodies and strong, memorable choruses courtesy of the the very powerful and emotional vocals of Chandler Mogel.
Quite frankly, he sounds so much stronger here than on any Talon album that I’ve heard. With a very powerful Danny Vaughn / Michael Lee Smith (Starz), Joey Tempest (Europe) type of voice, many tracks have choruses that will get stuck in your head and will have you singing/humming them for quite a while.

“We Came To Rock” open fire with its anthemic chorus and hard rocking riffage. Really cool and solid.
Next track “Falling Rain” is just brilliant. A magnificently well crafted melodic hard rocker with a monster chorus, huge guitars and superb production. Killer tune.
The thunderous “Live Again” follows in a more speeded up pace, with a melting riff and big, big drums.
And now, one of the songs of the year: “Waiting For Your Love” is simply melodic hard rock perfection. A semi-midtempo gem with some AORish scent crowned by heavenly vocal harmonies and a terrific chorus. What a song!

The aforementioned tracks worth the disc alone. But Outloud has much more to offer.
The retro “The Night That Never Ends” adds great keyboards to the mix, the heart-wrenching ballad “Someday” is an awesome tune not cheesy at all, and follower “Underground” has a massive crunchy riff-driven backbone.
With “Isolation Game” the band explores a more contemporary territory, adding variation and style to the album.
“Clean Hands” is a very good ’80s melodic rocker in the european vein, and last song, the title track “Love Catastrophe” combines melody with power featuring a killer guitar solo.

Outloud has delivered a terrific Melodic Hard Rock album here, that would’ve been a chart topper in the mid ’80s to early ’90s with the style and quality of their music, yet, it’s still fresh enough to fit into the current modern music scene.
There are plenty of standout moments on this recording, Mogel offers huge vocal performances, while Katsionis and Kash’s guitars are a joy throughout.
“Love Catastrophe” is a great collection of tracks packed full of biting, catchy riffs and excellent vocals. When you add to that a rhythm section that nails every beat to the floor and an excellent mix by Tommy Hansen what you have is a mightily impressive set of songs that camp in your memory and refuse to leave.
I can’t recommend “Love Catastrophe” enough. Don’t miss one of the MHR albums of the year.
Highly Recommended

01 – We Came To Rock
02 – Falling Rain
03 – Live Again
04 – Waiting For Your Love
05 – The Night That Never Ends
06 – Someday
07 – Underground
08 – Isolation
09 – Clean Hands
10 – Love Catastrophe

Chandler Mogel – Vocals
Mark Cross – Drums
Bob Katsionis – Lead Guitar & Keys
Tony Kash – Guitars
Sverd T. Soth – Bass

BUY IT!
www.myspace.com/outloudtheband