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AOR Heaven
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 24.02.2021 | Released: 26.02.2021
Walk The Walk is a new American band featuring vocalist J Adler and multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer Paul Alfery. Their association came by their mutual relationship with legendary guitarist Tracy G. If you don't recognize the two artists, I wouldn't be surprised. Neither did I. But both Adler and Alfery have long musical pedigrees. The former has worked with David Ellefson, Tim Gaines, Paul Bostaph, among others, and fronted the bands Dead Of Night and Goaded. With time served from the Eighties forward, Alfery has worked with Zakk Wylde, Steve Vai, Tony Iommi, Jimi Bell, and the band Guilty Pleasure.
Musically then, Walk The Walk delivers classic rock that blurs the line between melodic hard rock and heavy metal. Generally, the main characteristics of the songs are Alfrey's strong riffs and blistering solos, and Adler's assertive, sometimes, raw vocal style (with accompanying gang vocals). These things are wrapped up in significant song melody, guitar and vocal harmony, and crisp groove delivered by a tough and heavy rhythm section. The pattern starts at the beginning and continues, with some exceptions, throughout this debut album. Perhaps, another summary of the Walk The Walk sound could be hard and heavy rock, but melodic, yet sounding much like Eighties Sunset Strip hair and sleaze rock with raw vocals.
Certainly, this formula is found with Fight On Your Feet, Get Busy Livin', Two Miles To Go, and the fast riff rocker, Getaway. Alternatively, Running From You twists melodic hard rock with some AOR accessibility, yet the riffs and rhythm and groove are still heavy and the vocals gnarly. With Are You There and Never Been To California, you get two heavy, pseudo-ballad songs. With the former, light acoustic guitar works with the vocal arrangement, but the song gets heavier and Adler's voice becomes more assertive, even sounding hoarse or rough (which nixed the song for me). Alternatively, Never Been To California tricks you up with piano opening which, in turn, gives way to a rising rock number with moderate pacing, the piano lingering but barely noticeable (why was it even there to begin with), and Adler's voice once more getting raw and coarse. Which, in turn, when taking the album as a whole, made me wonder if Adler can actually sing, or simply was having a bad day (or week) in the recording studio. The final result was that I enjoyed the music, the melodic metal rock, but could easily pass on the vocals. Enjoy the music video below and make your own judgment.
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Walk The Walk's debut album delivers classic rock that blurs the line between melodic hard rock and heavy metal, yet with assertive, nearly coarse, vocals that could easily be dismissed.
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