• New Music Reviews
• |
• Archives
• |
• News
• |
• Submissions
• |
• About
• |
• 
• |
• 

December 2024

• After Lapse: Pathways
• Illusion Force: Halfana
• Powell-Payne: Voilá

November 2024

• Sunstorm: Restless Fight
• Storace: Crossfire
• Voodoo Circle: Hail To The King
• Lionville: Supernatural
• Starchaser: Into The Great Unkown
• Empires Of Eden: Guardians Of Time
• Lonerider: Down In The Dust
• Seventh Crystal: Entity
• Neal Morse & The Resonance: No Hill For A Climber
• Beardfish: Songs For Beating Hearts
• Impellitteri: War Machine
• Brothers Of Metal: Fimbulvinter

October 2024

• Casandra's Crossing: Garden Of Earthly Delights
• DGM: Endless
• Daytona: Garder la Flamme
• Fate: Reconnect 'N Ignite
• Frost*: Life In The Wires
• Aries Descendant: From The Ashes Of Deceit
• Fans Of The Dark: Video
• Radioactive: Reset
• House Of Lords: Full Tilt Overdrive
• Cleanbreak: We Are The Fire

September 2024

• Sinner's Blood: Dark Horizons
• Serious Black: Rise Of Akhenaton
• Eclipse: Megalomanium II
• SteelCity: Reverence
• Hydra: ReHydrated
• Heartwind: III
• Gabrielle De Val and the Dragonlords: Tiger
• Find Me: Nightbound
• The Nail: The Nail
• Timeless Fairytale: A Story To Tell
• Stryper: When We Were Kings
• Phil Mogg: Moggs Motel
• Pure Reason Revolution: Coming Up To Consciousness
• Jordan Rudess: Permission To Fly

[ More Music Reviews ]

Kissin' Dynamite: Megalomania

Melodic Hard Rock/Metal

4.0/5.0

Website Facebook Twitter YouTube
AFM Records
Words: Craig Hartranft  Added: 01.10.2014

It only struck me today looking at the Kissin' Dynamite promotional band photos and because he changed his hair style. Lead vocalist Hannes Braun looks a lot like a young Bonnie Tyler. Remember her and her one hit wonder, Total Eclipse of the Heart? Seriously, look at this picture of Ms. Tyler from 1979. Then click to enlarge the photo below. Yeah. I know. And Braun has that same raspy vocal delivery. Creepy.

Kissin' Dynamite: red carpet ride.

But I digress. Putting that trivial insight aside, Kissin' Dynamite arrives with their fourth long player, Megalomania, and just as the band members reach their twenties. It's the same same, but something different. At the foundation, KD still delivers melodic hard rock steeped in the Eighties sleaze tradition with some heavy metal edge. But the sound across the album has a more lush, dense feeling. And the smoothness of the vocals make one suspect there may be some serious autotuning going on here. Best degree of suspicion comes with DNA, Firelies, and Deadly. The latter a very catchy tune.

Then there's the small nuance of mettling with some modern music influences. Mostly I thought this in the opening track DNA. It has this bouncy synth thing going on throughout, only to be outwitted by the bouncy rock groove. Then there's perfectly aligned vocals again. Kissin' Dynamite sounds like melodic dance metal boy band, One Direction meets Wig Wam. But it's a darn catchy tune that could light up an arena. Perhaps that's the conclusion: the sound of these songs seem tuned for that large wall of speakers screaming rock goove that gets you jumping and pumping. I can see it happening in a show near you. But underneath it all, as mentioned earlier, is that fundamental mixture of melodic hard rock and metal, with groove and rambunctious lead guitars. Megalomania is poppy and accessible, melodic and groovy, but probably still heavy enough for the hard rock purists. It's definitely worth your time.

Kissin' Dynamite - FIREFLIES *Lyricvideo*

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

Megalomania is poppy and accessible, melodic and groovy, but probably still heavy enough for the hard rock purists.

Alphabetical Index

The Powell Payne project, created in 2022 is the collaboration of Mark "Penfold Powell (ex-drummer of Psycho Kiss) and Adam Payne (former vocalist of Airrace). With guitarist Adam Davies and keyboard player ... [ Read More ]