Extreme: Six

Can any band in hard rock have been as misunderstood as Extreme? Yeah, they’re not the first guitar riffin’ act to be heralded and then hamstrung by a smash hit ballad, but even within the rock community the band’s unwillingness to stay too long in one style has seen them often cast as neither this nor that - too expansive to be a straight up rock band, and yet too ‘here comes the chorus’ to be much else. In truth what that’s led to, in my eyes, is some underrated albums that, in truth don’t always make for the easiest run through from start to finish. Six, as you might expect, is the band’s sixth album, and it has to be said that through the early tracks that have been put out in the public domain by Gary Cherone, Nuno Bettencourt, Pat Badger and (since 2007) Kevin Figueiredo, expectations were high. “Rise� is a riff-totting monster shout that takes no prisoners through Cherone’s biting vocals and some guitar lines that positively singe your ears as they fly by. Add in a big, modern sounding chant along chorus and this is a sure fire live favourite, guaranteed! “Banshee�, while hinting at “Decadence Dance� from the Pornograffiti album backs up that explosion with a strutting assuredness that illustrates just how good this band’s rhythm pairing is, and how well the full quartet lock in place, especially as Nuno pulls off a classic Joe Perry alike guitar solo for good measure. “#Rebel� maintains the intensity, in fact it might even raise it further, with a slam-dunk that nets somewhere between Queen and Van Halen almost being more than we could have hoped for. Single (if we still call them that?) number 4 was “Other Side Of The Rainbow�, which happily and ably illustrates that Extreme were and remain capable of pulling out a stunning slow track and then some - and those vocal harmonies? Wow! In fact this is the song that stays with me longest after Six has come to an end.

For me though, it’s telling that all four of those tracks are front loaded into being the first quartet on Six, making for an unusually familiar opening to an album that you might be hearing for the very first time. Is there good reason for that? Well, maybe, because not all that comes after is as hard hitting, immediate, or dare I say, as focussed. “Small Town Beautiful� is a nice little mid-paced acoustic led sing along where Gary and Nuno trade vocals as we know only they can, but the repetition of the song’s title during the chorus quickly wears me down to the point where I’m not sure I need to hear it again. And that’s an affliction elsewhere too, “Thicker Than Blood� bludgeoning the same couple of lines over and over in its chorus, but then that’s preferable to the sampled beats, electro vibe and horrible rhythms that sit around it during the rest of this song, and the throwaway pop of “Beautiful Girls� isn’t much better. In fact it might be worse. If this had been played blind as a lead-off single, the words boy and band would have been bandied about with worrying abandon.

For me it’s a real shame, “Mask� almost sounding like Rob Zombie decided to head into melodic rock territory with excellent results, while “Save Me’ is another smart headed rocker, and “Hurricane� another beautiful Beatles inspired ballad. “X Out�, however, shows up as a strange kind of electro ambient surge and “Here’s To The Losers� is maybe one strum-along too many - and this time with big gang chanting making it sound very dated indeed. To say this album tails away from its inspired opening would be an understatement and I’d almost go as far as to suggest it feels like the guys just kind of, well, you know… got a bit bored.

I genuinely love half of this album and could happily live without just about all of the rest, which, when I thought greatness had been achieved, maybe makes the crash and burn all that harder to swallow.

Track Listing
1. Rise
2. #Rebel
3. Banshee
4. Other Side Of The Rainbow
5. Small Town Beautiful
6. The Mask
7. Thicker Than Blood
8. Save Me
9. Hurricane
10. X Out
11. Beautiful Girls
12. Here's To The Losers

Added: June 9th 2023
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Extreme-Band.com
Hits: 891
Language: english

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