ALBUM REVIEW: Back With A Bang – Kissin’ Dynamite
For anyone yearning for stadium lights, this album is perfect. KISSIN’ DYNAMITE weren’t lying when they titled their new album Back With A Bang. Exploding with waves of nostalgia, blistering solos, and booming, catchy tracks, the band know exactly how to impress and keep on impressing on their latest offering.
Wasting no time, they kick things off with the title track. It’s an incredibly catchy tune with some heavy instrumentation throughout and such a great chorus which truly screams that these guys are back. Still full to the brim with stadium attitude, it’s as if they never went away as the guitar solos and thumping percussion sound just as fresh as when the band first got going. This is how to start an album. Moving into My Monster, the band employ more of a subdued feel on the verses as if they’re slowly reaching a boiling point and then explode into the choruses which are flowing with huge rock anthem energy. A serious 80s rock vibe ensues on this track in the guitar solos and the way the song builds and gets more theatrical and bigger as it progresses.
The uplifting Raise Your Glass is a fun nostalgia trip. With a BRYAN ADAMS-style vocal part, these guys really tap into the past with the cleverly written lyrics and singalong parts in this track. This is a relatable track and they don’t really go into anything too high concept and basically describe the normal life of a band. It’s a track for the musicians. The Devil Is A Woman uses some truly epic guitar riffs to set up this song and they deliver on their promise of an epic track. The vocals in the chorus are great as they pierce through the instrumentation. It’s a dark track but seems to have a sick sense of humour at its heart. This is the kind of track 80s rock fans could class as true rock regardless of when it’s released.
The Best Is Yet To Come is a lighter and more optimistic track. The band have been nostalgic so far but this one looks to the future with nothing but optimism. It’s almost like therapy, how it’s important to push through the dark times to get to the good ones and actually realise that things will get better in the end. Tracks like this matter. Rallying the troops, More Is More sounds almost like a call to arms as this is the one to shout along to. It’s as if this one was written for the stadium atmosphere which KISSIN’ DYNAMITE are bold enough to do now and rightfully so. This is one to be played loud to the devoted fans – whether of the band or of the genre – and it’s difficult not to get sucked into the catchy choruses.
Iconic is more of a thumping jam. It’s got the theatrics but it feels a little more reliant on just having a great beat and being easy to get on with. The choruses of course conjure up the visuals of stage lights and big performances but it feels a little more subdued and more focused on just being a great little track in amongst the rest. Almost wrapping things up is When The Lights Go Out, which feels like the last chance to show what the guys can do here and that’s exactly what they do. This track essentially personifies them as it’s got the big theatrical choruses and the more relaxed but just as rocky verses complete with a blistering solo. It’s the last proper rock song on the album and KISSIN’ DYNAMITE deliver everything they’d hoped for with this one.
The final track Not A Wise Man works as an epilogue to what’s become before. It’s a lot slower and employs more of an acoustic feel, with vocals that are much gentler and honest. There’s a sense of vulnerability that isn’t really explored elsewhere on the album or at least not in this way. It’s optimistic but with a touch of longing. It’s a change from the rest of the album and shows that they can really do it all but it also just shows a whole other side to the band which is equally great.
KISSIN’ DYNAMITE have been at this for a while now and they still sound just as great. It could be argued that it’s nothing new but that wouldn’t be fair as the band has found their brand of music and are playing to it. Anything else right now would feel odd. It’s a little outside of its time but that’s fine as it’s nostalgic and caters to anyone who craves that nostalgia and it doesn’t really worry about anyone else. One thing’s for sure and that is that fans of the genre will be pleased.
Rating: 7/10
Back With A Bang is out now via Napalm Records.
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