LOVE.MIGHT.KILL - 2 Big 2 Fail (2012)

*

Coming right out of nowhere, Germans LOVE.MIGHT.KILL really made an impact last year with their Brace For Impact debut album.
On the heels of being named Gamma Ray's new drummer, founder Michael Ehre (ex- Firewind, Uli Jon Roth, Metallium) delivers his second Love.Might.Kill album "2 Big 2 Fail".
Much like the debut album, Love.Might.Kill blurs the lines between melodic hard rock and melodic metal, but basically this is a fabulous Euro hard rock CD.

There are some changes in the band as the addition of keyboardist Sascha Onnen, made them a sextet, and now the main songwriting isn't only done by Ehre and Italian singer Jan Manenti but from more or less the entire band.
The sound in "2 Big 2 Fail" is more dynamic and varied than the debut. One could actually say that they sound larger, or maybe bigger than they did on Brace for Impact.

Love.Might.Kill efficiently blends powerful, compact edgy melodic overtones with traditional hard rock grooves in many songs.
After the intro "Save My Soul", the catchy "XTC" (check the video) rocks with a meaty riff and thunderous drums. The keyboards are supporting noticeably in the background, even dueling with the guitar during the solo. The chorus (as on most of the tracks) are just to die for and the voice of Jan is just perfect for this style.
Other straight hard rock sounding tracks are the commercial "Restless Heart", where the band directly goes Melodic Hard Rock, and the bouncing and melodious "The Great Escape".

Then "The One" has a classic hard rock, even latent blues undercurrent that may remind mid-period Whitesnake, a song where the keyboards gain notorious protagonism again. The bridge and chorus are great.
The band hardens the proceedings on the Euro metalized "Burn the Night" and "We Fall", both powerful but always focused in melody.
Love.Might.Kill can also deliver songs more akin to rock/metal anthems with "Home" which recalls Black Sabbath Tony Martin era, really well arranged and performed.
One of the definitive winners is title track "Too Big To Fail", a semi-midtempo melodic hard rock tune which starts slowly with a sweet guitar intro and then the perfectly harmonized vocals go increscendo to a killer chorus. During the middle section this track even reaches AOR proportions.


"2 Big 2 Fail" is simply one of the best hard rock releases of the year.
I know that many will say this has been heard before and blah blah, but the true is LOVE.MIGHT.KILL sounds, write and performs music in this genre much better than many 'big names' of the actual scene.
Just check the title track for example and then tell me.
Great playing, solid songwriting and excellent production.
Need I say more?


01. Save My Soul
02. XTC
03. Burn The Night
04. The One
05. Restless Heart
06. Home
07. The Great Escape
08. Too Big To Fail
09. We Fall
10. The Big Screen Pleasure (And Pain)
11. Alone
12. The Perfect Mistake


Jan Manenti – lead & backing vocals
Michael Ehre - drums, percussion
Stefan Ellerhorst - guitars
Christian Stover – guitars
Jogi Sweers – bass
Sascha Onnen - keyboards







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