PhaZer

Kismet

Written by: PP on 13/07/2011 19:49:37

It's not often you hear about Portuguese bands on Rockfreaks.net, so here's a review of a band called PhaZer, who have just released their debut album "Kismet" earlier this year. It's a good alternative rock / hard rock album that stays faithful to its genre description while taking cues from the likes of Rev Theory, Nickelback and The Cult. That need not always be a bad thing, and it isn't in this case either, because what PhaZer has put together here amounts to a solid, straight-forward rock album that reeks of no yearn for stardom nor of any trends.

"Kismet" basically takes the driving, groovy alternative rock of the bands mentioned and flavors it with extra muscle and aggression every now and then to distance themselves from their radio-friendly colleagues. Their vocalist owns a macho and masculine voice that gives him lots of power, which he isn't afraid to use on tracks like "#" and "The Unknown". Overall their expression is similar to that of Alter Bridge, which takes a tried-and-true hard rock formula and adds in larger-than-life guitar soloing and technical flair to keep things interesting. That said, the album isn't without its hit songs either, such as "Wake Me", "Rebel" or "Serious Killer". Though the middle one of these is more than six minutes long, it packs lots of great guitar work and catchy choruses making it approachable for anyone into your standard radio rock / hard rock.

Still, "Kismet" isn't exactly an original album. It's a sum of lots of influences and as a result it doesn't sound all too different from other bands doing the same thing. However, the amount of impressive fretwork and frequent enough glimpses of catchy songwriting make sure that most people won't mind. I don't either, and as such I'll finish this review with a nice catch-phrase: PhaZer have put together one of the better alternative rock / hard rock releases from mainland Europe in recent memory.

7

Download: Wake Me, Rebel
For the fans of: Nickelback, The Cult, Rev Theory, Alter Bridge
Listen: Myspace

Release date June 2010
Ragingplanet / Racing Legends

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