I must admit that when my Metal Planet boss pinged me this track for review, I was a little worried. You see, since Janet Gardner left Vixen to team up with Justin James, I’ve not really warmed to anything they’ve done. So it was with a bit of trepidation that I clicked the YouTube link and took a deep breath…
I needn’t have worried!
Wounded is a super-catchy slice of melodic hard rock, with more than a slight nod to the classic Vixen style. The song blasts into life with an extremely melodic guitar riff that straightaway brings back memories of the halcyon hard rock days of the late 80s/early 90s. The guitar tone just screams ‘1989 hard rock’: fat, full and without a hint of the ‘down-tuned for extra heaviness’ approach of a lot of modern hard rock/metal. It’s a BIG sound!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8qNBhOWNu4&w=560&h=315]
The verses sit atop a crunching riff, full of squealed harmonics and hard rock attitude. They even throw in a bit of classic hair metal ‘Whoo, oh, oh’ gang vocal stylings in the bridge to the chorus. Cheesier than a double-cheese pizza, but oh so good!
And that chorus! It’s an absolute monster! Hugely catchy with stacked multi-layered harmonies and gang vocals, it could easily have sat on Vixen’s classic ‘Rev It Up’ album (that is, scarily, 30 years old this week!)
The band then throw in a nice, quiet and subtle instrumental breakdown before Justin lets fly with the obligatory guitar solo. It’s a good one! It has that lovely combination of melody and shred that typifies the best of the late 80s/early 90s hard rock and serves the song perfectly, before the chorus plays the song out.
Look, this song is gloriously retro! If, like me, you have a fondness for late 80s/early 90s melodic hard rock, or if you like Vixen’s previous work, you’ll find a huge amount to enjoy here.
The production is colossal, with stacked guitars dominating proceedings. You won’t find any evidence of the classic AOR keyboard sounds that were plastered all over Vixen’s albums, but in some ways it’s stronger for that in 2020. Also, Janet sounds amazing. She hasn’t lost any of her vocal power, even if she is singing in a slightly lower register these days.
If the rest of the upcoming album (Synergy, released on 7.8.20) is as good as this, it’ll be a kick-ass album!
Review by Andy Hawes for MPM
