I'll admit that I'm unfamiliar with the work of this side project from Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx but I was intrigued to give the latest album a listen, knowing it was the first album released after Motley Crue called it quits. I'm not entirely sure why but who cares, I still listened to it. The big question is am I tempted to listen to their previous albums after sitting through this one and the answer is a resounding no.
I made the mistake of assuming that Sixx:A.M. would be closer to Heavy Metal than Hair Metal based on decent album opener and lead single "Rise". Unfortunately, Prayers For The Damned, Volume 1 is nothing more than a bland, whiny, modern Hard Rock album. It may start off with aggressively loud drumming and heavy guitar riffs but it gets old fast, padded only by your bog standard moody whining that American Rock bands are fucking adept at.
Granted if you like songs to sound heavy and emotional, this album will probably be a good listen for you as there are plenty of "epic" sounding tracks with...well, heavy riffs and loud drumming, but also a variety of soft and powerful vocals ("Better Man" & "When We Were Gods"). There are also a few more energetic tracks that feel less out of place on a Rock album than most of this Pop Metal ("You've Come To The Right Place", "The Last Time (My Heart Will Ever Hit The Ground)") but overall, everything feels tired. Tired or even worse; limp.
There are songs that attempt to carry the same power or grand feel but end up falling flat due to relying too much on the Hard Rock staples milked dry in previous tracks, resulting in a dull mush of sound masquerading as Rock ("Can't Stop"). Most of the album seems to have been built around the idea that "quiet bits followed by loud bits = awesome!!!" but by the fifth track, this roller coaster of dynamics just gets annoying.
Maybe that's the reason I preferred tracks towards the end of the album that broke the mould and tried to stay at least a little consistent with the volume and use of heavy riffing ("Everything Went To Hell", "Rise Of The Melancholy Empire")...that or I was just glad to be near the end. After all, there's nothing here for fans of Motley Crue's material, that's for bloody sure! In fact, "Belly Of The Beast" sounds like it could be the backing track for a random Hip Hop song once you remove the guitar.
The one saving grace for this album is that the band haven't phoned in their performances. Drums, guitar, bass, vocals, backing instrumentalists/vocalists, all tip top. Sadly the quality of songwriting isn't up to the same standards, at least as far as music is concerned. The lyrics could be as deep as a black and white Instagram post with a poignant quote in the middle of it but none of that matters if everything else around it is whiny and pathetic, also known as My Chemical Romance Syndrome. Some of the song titles alone sound like they were ripped straight from some floppy-haired virgin's poetry journal.
I definitely won't be listening to Prayers For The Damned, Volume 2 or any of Sixx:A.M.'s previous albums unless I'm given a bloody good reason, and even then I'll probably reread this review to remind myself why I don't care for the band's music. For the benefit of Future Me and Present You reading this and wondering why I dislike the album so much (even after everything I've just said), here's a short summary:
It's generic.
It's boring.
It's unnecessary.
It's the sort of music fake tattoo-sleeved teenagers who think they're cool because they listen to Rock would like.
It's getting a 2/10.
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