17 CRASH

17 Crash began life back in 2011 and released their debut album ‘Reading Your Dirty Minds’ in 2015 which if I’m honest is one that had initially passed me by but having listened to it I have now rectified that situation so I move swiftly on to their sophomore release and find an album by a band that have grown in style and substance since then. They are clearly displaying the traits required for a melodic hard rock band with the obvious influences that they cite themselves being Guns n’ Roses, Motley Crue and L.A Guns, the latter a source for the band’s name from the L.A guns song of the same name. ‘Lies’ the opener is a feel good, melodic track that defies you not to nod your head to the beat and look forward to the next tune. ‘Can’t Touch’ for me is where the G n R influence kick in as vocalist Ros Crash has clearly been seduced by Axl Rose on this one – just listen to ‘You Could Be Mine’ and you may notice the similarities in sound and style, for me there also seems to be a vocal similarity to Michael Kiske of Helloween harking back to the 80’s and their song, ‘I Want Out’ with the theatrical approach to the longer held notes by Ros. ‘Don’t You Break My Life’ is another infectious tune which has all the feeling of the best melodic tunes the 80’s had to offer and has me hitting the repeat button.

As all good bands should (in my opinion) 17 Crash have included a ballad to test their softer side and they have found it in the shape of ‘In The Eyes of a Woman’ a borderline power ballad with melodious backing vocals which will satiate the need for a slow tempo number by the listener.

‘Dead City’ incorporates some good changes in tempo as well as a certain groove and has influences of Poison, Warrant and Danger Danger at least musically and rolls along nicely. The title track ‘Hit the Prey’ rounds off the release and has a touch of Crazy Lixx and Scandinavian bands about it and although the lyrics for me are maybe slightly awry in respect of the actual subject matter, this actually may be down to translation and hey these guys do a great job of singing English which fares better than my Italian! That said it works and is a catchy song as musically these guys can play and this is a competent album with decent enough production, not ground breaking at this point but heading in the right direction and I look forward to hearing more from these guys.

RD