Covered Call

Money Never Sleeps

Written by: PP on 27/03/2009 22:29:00

Covered Call is a financial term referring to having a long position in an asset combined with a short position in a call option on the same underlying asset. Don't worry if you're sitting there with your face as a questionmark, as only finance professionals and us who spent four years in university studying the very subject will know exactly what is meant by that hieroglyphic definition. Apparently some of the musicians behind the band work in the stock market, which is probably why they've turned to a recording artist career considering what's going on with the banking world today. To make things more interesting, they've hired the vocal duties from a Candlemass, Therion member Thomas Vikström. So is music the saving grace for these accountants?

Well, based on their debut album "Money Never Sleeps", I'm not so convinced. They play generic hard rock with heavy metal tendencies in the form of epic soundscapes and vibrato vocals. Think of old school Bon Jovi with a more metallic approach to the guitars and the drums, and you're just about there. Alternatively, you could just as well call Covered Call a poor man's Bon Jovi because despite a few bright moments ("Shine", for instance), the band hasn't been able to fulfil any of the criteria for great, let alone good hard rock. First off, the sound is way too soft and predictable. You can't be in a band that plays hard rock and bring forth such a non-ballsy sound. Second off, the choruses outright suck. Hard rock is all about huge anthems that fill stadiums, and although Covered Call has loads and loads of echoing space built in their sound through production, they lack the powerful chorus punches of songs like "Livin' On A Prayer" or "Runaway", the latter of which draws lots of parallels to a number of songs on this record.

My final and biggest problem with "Money Never Sleeps" is that it just sounds so awfully dated. This type of sound could've been pulled off in the late 80s with a decent amount of success, but in 2009 it just leaves the listener asking the question "why not try something more relevant to today's climate?". As such, it's extremely difficult to recommend Covered Call to anyone except those who wish they would've been growing up in the 80s instead - and of course the legions and legions of Bon Jovi fans out there.

5

Download: Shine, Never Again
For the fans of: Bon Jovi
Listen: Myspace

Release date 25.03.2009
Blistering Records

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