{"id":19658,"date":"2014-05-23T00:00:04","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T00:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=19658"},"modified":"2014-07-08T23:06:42","modified_gmt":"2014-07-08T23:06:42","slug":"album-review-hollywood-monsters-big-trouble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-hollywood-monsters-big-trouble\/","title":{"rendered":"HOLLYWOOD MONSTERS – Big Trouble (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOLLYWOOD MONSTERS
Big Trouble<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nMausoleum (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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I can\u2019t get enough of these hard rock \/ heavy metal supergroups, and Hollywood Monsters is another beast bursting with talent. From its cover boasting a gargantuan fight between a giant ape and a Tyrannosaurus Rex to the staggering riffs and uptempo vibe, Hollywood Monsters\u2019 debut is a fire-cracker of a record that explodes into the night and illuminates the sky via the talents of California-based French vocalist Steph Honde \u2013 who is joined by ex-Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Di\u2019Anno on track 11 (\u2018Fuck You All\u2019). <\/p>\n

Elsewhere we have drum legend Vinnie Appice \u2013 best known for his work with Black Sabbath<\/a> and Dio \u2013 and we can\u2019t overlook bassist Tim Bogert, who has featured for Vanilla Fudge. The guest list just gets more impressive, though. Don Airey \u2013 who has played with Deep Purple, Michael Schenker and Whitesnake \u2013 is responsible for the Hammond on one track, while other musicians showcased are guitarist Denis Baruta, bassist Olivier Brossard, and drummers Emmanuel Lamic and Laetitia Gondran.<\/p>\n

As with many of these sorts of albums, such an influx of talent means that much of what is on offer is going to be very good, and that\u2019s certainly the case with Big Trouble<\/em>. Airey\u2019s Hammond drenches the driving \u2018Move On\u2019 while the riff is killer throughout, and adds extra weight to this swaggering limp of ballsy rock. <\/p>\n

Honde has a powerful voice perfect for this sort of rock \u2019n\u2019 roll; in a sense he has a no frills style, but it\u2019s beefy, hearty and above all he owns the room. Appice is as thunderous as ever as he rattles the skins through the sassy title track, but he\u2019s given a run for his money by Gondran on the sweeping ballad \u2018Oh Boy!\u2019, which is one of the finest moments of the album and an unexpected twist to the rockier proceedings.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere we have the lightweight patter of \u2018The Cage\u2019, the bruising monolith that is \u2018Village Of The Damned\u2019 with a Whitesnake-type of edge, and the bonus track \u2018Fuck You All\u2019, which has an urban toughness bolstered by Lamic\u2019s hardy percussion.<\/p>\n

Big Trouble<\/em> is quite an unusual little record at times; for every big and bolshie number, there is a more subtle workout featuring unusual arrangements and unpredictable melody. For instance, \u2018The Only Way\u2019 is a dreamy trickle that eventually transforms into a molten metal throb, and it\u2019s this number which sums up the content of the album. Although lacking a distinctive hit, Big Trouble<\/em> is a wholesome clump of rock.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HOLLYWOOD MONSTERSBig Trouble Mausoleum (2014)Rating: 7\/10 I can\u2019t get enough of these hard rock \/ heavy metal supergroups, and Hollywood Monsters is another beast bursting with talent. From its cover boasting a gargantuan fight between a giant ape and a Tyrannosaurus Rex to the staggering riffs and uptempo vibe, Hollywood Monsters\u2019 debut is a fire-cracker […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1289],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-hollywood-monsters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19658"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19664,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19658\/revisions\/19664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}