Almost 3 years after the release of “Resilience” DROWNING POOL is set to unleash their latest batch of fist pumping, high energy, Texas Metal. Set for release February 5th “Hellelujah” promises to carry on the momentum garnered by the recent 13th anniversary of the band’s debut Smash “Sinner” . Produced by Jason Suceof, “Hellelujah” marks the second release fronted by vocalist Jasen Moreno. “Hellelujah” doesn’t waste any time getting going with “Push” delivering everything we expect from DROWNING POOL in 2016. It’s heavy, melodic, up-tempo and catchy. Nothing really new here for DROWNING POOL. But certainly more of what fans that have followed them since 2001 will appreciate. “Push” is followed up by the album’s first single “By The Blood”. “By The Blood” seems to channel the “Sinner” album a bit. All the elements from the guitar tone of guitarist C.J. Pierce to The vocal styling’s laid down from singer Jasen Moreno seem to take you back to the bands Platinum debut. I know that is something we can all live with.
Hear “By The Blood” here:
The next couple tracks “Drop”, “Hell To Pay” and “We Are The Devil” are more straight up rockers with Solid musicianship from the rhythm section of Bassist Stevie Benton and Drummer Mike Luce on full display. “Hell To Pay” features a rhythm that will make even the most novice listener take notice with a tight cadence that brings the drums and bass to the forefront of the song providing the tracks hook. “Snake Charmer” is the album’s second single, again reminiscent of their debut album “Sinner”. It kind of makes you feel like the guys are trying to reach out and remind folks why the loved DROWING POOL in the first place. Featuring a chorus that makes you want to pump your first and sing along “Snake Charmer” is sure to be a favorite for many fans from the Dave Williams era of DROWING POOL.
Hear “Snake Charmer” here:
The next track “My Own Way” is a fun rocker very different than what most people expect from the Texas Metalers. It’s kind of more along the lines of a radio single from a band trying to break in the industry. That said, fans will dig it. It brings a nice break to the album before we bounce back to the style we all know and love with “Goddamn Vultures”. Next the guys deliver us a slow tempo acoustic style tune called “Another Name”. This song goes a long way in showing the growth of the band over the past 15 years. It takes a mature heavy metal band to have the balls to put out acoustic based tracks on their albums. The guitar tones are very clean and pretty. A nice changeup from the rest of the album. “Sympathy Depleted” and “Stomping Ground” provide heavy foot tapping tracks that are sure to keep any DROWNING POOL fan happy. While “Meet The Bullet” and “All Saints Day” rounds out a really solid effort from start to finish.
It’s nice to see DROWNING POOL still breaking new ground as a band while at the same time providing enough of their classic sound to keep all of their long time fans happy. I had the pleasure of opening for DROWNING POOL last year with my band DOWNTREND and I have to say these were some of the nicest guys we have played with. We really didn’t get to spend much time talking to them, but it didn’t matter. They showed a genuine concern during set up and sound check to making sure that we had plenty of stage room and doing anything they could to ensure that we had as good a show as possible. Don’t be shocked when I tell you that most bands do not have that concern for others. We really appreciated it. 2016 promises to be another big year for the guys. Get out and occupy a venue when they come to your town.
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