LILLIAN AXE - XI The Days Before Tomorrow (2012)

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Louisiana’s Lillian Axe were formed at the beginning of the eighties and make their mark during the hair metal glory days with a couple of very good albums.
Founder Steve Blaze never give up, and maintained the band alive despite the continuous line-up changes, and now they're back with a new album; "XI: The Days Before Tomorrow"

What separated Lillian Axe from most of the hair metal acts back in the day was the band’s willingness to take a few chances in their music, with interesting lyrics and elaborated arrangements.
Those aspects are still present in 2012, but times change, and now Lillian has a new reincarnation of their sound, and that's more than welcome.
On "XI: The Days Before Tomorrow" are elements of more explorative, progressive hard rock, with a really good and sometimes complex guitar work and intriguing sounds.
One of the biggest problems for Steve Blaze was to find a stable singer. After several changes, new vocalist Brian Jones seems to fit more the progressive elements the band is now using in their music, even though his voice won’t shatter any windows, at least the group has a guy who hopefully can stick around a little longer and bring some stability to the forefront.

The album opens with the heavy razor blade riff of "Babylon". It's a straightforward, hard rockin' song featuring a tight guitar solo by Blaze.
"The Great Divide" burrows deep into hard-prog territory, nicely fitting Jones' style of singing. A more dramatic atonement for instance displays in full pledge on this track and the guitar work is killer indeed.
"Gather Up The Snow" continues the hard-hitting melodic stance of the first track and is another quality song that will have you re-assessing Lillian Axe and their back catalogue.
The Spanish flavored intro to "The Great Divide" along with the great guitar work throughout it is yet another feather in the Lillian Axe cap. Steve Blaze is a man that has no boundaries and seemingly, has no wish to put any up.

"Caged In" brings some serious hard rock to the fore and although the lyrics and chorus are repetitive, you'll simply be struck by the molten heat that the band brings to the table.
Another churner tune kicks the chair in the song "Lava On My Tongue", where a nice hard rock edge dominates the main riff and the drums play a nice role in this uptempo yet melodic tune. I can correlate this song to some of their old school sound from earlier records which fans will definitely enjoy, and the writing is intricate as it’s challenging.
"My Apologies" is a more standard sounding, a half tempo ballad that shows the softer side of the band and even then they can't help but throw in a soulful piece of guitar shredding to bring it together.


On their new album, Lillian Axe has changed musically, and the result is pretty consistent and convincing for the most part.
Much of the melodic hard rock sounds on this new effort falls right in line with acts like King’s X, UK's Ten, and Saigon Kick multi-part vocal harmonies, sitting kinetically against addictive guitar riffs while the rhythm section hones in on grooves with a progressive touch.
Guitarist Steve Blaze really pours his heart, soul and creativity into the songwriting and performance aspect of this album, which needs repeated listens to be fully tasted.
His six-string work is truly accomplished, with little subtleties going on in every riff and solo. The new singer Jones won’t turn a bunch of heads but the man does his job nicely and fits the scope of the band’s style more than the previous singers.
"XI The Days Before Tomorrow" is a good progressive hard rock album, and one of the best and most complete Lillian Axe have ever made.


01 - Babylon
02 - Death Comes Tomorrow
03 - Gather Up The Snow
04 - The Great Divide
05 - Take The Bullet
06 - Bow Your Head
07 - Caged In
08 - Soul Disease
09 - Lava On My Tongue
10 - My Apologies
11 - Angels Among Us (European Bonus)


Brian Jones – Vocals
Steve Blaze – Guitar, Keyboards
Sam Poitevent – Guitar
Eric Morris – Bass
Ken Koudelka – Drums




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www.amazon.co.uk/Xi-Before-Tomorrow-Lillian-Axe/dp/B006J3GH1S