Abandoned Souls Make It Last EP Review
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Being a fan of 90’s Rock/Alternative and the Heavy Rock bands from the 2000’s, whenever I get a request to review someone who’s recommended for fans of Godsmack, Alice In Chains, Alter Bridge, Shinedown, Three Days Grace, I sit up straight immediately and get to clicking on links. Plus, Canada seems to have a decent lineup of Hard Rock and Metal bands and with the name Abandoned Souls, my interest was piqued.
Upon giddy-clicking with my mouse I was taken to a youtube video of Make It Last, the title track from their EP which is actually their 5th studio offering. Dudes, why were you hiding this whole time? Luckily, they have me here to tell you all about this potential masterpiece, after this quote from them…
“… The philosophy behind ‘Make It Last’ is a reference to always trying to make the good times in life last as long as you can. As much as possible, try to live every minute like it could be your last…Time is fleeting, so…Make It Last!”
Good advice but sadly, the only way to make this EP last was to have it on repeat. In this case, 5 songs weren’t enough of a good thing.
Prove It was the first one to blare through the headphones and it was a nice intro song. I was reminded of that 90’s vibe but it had enough originality for me not to compare it to any other band easily. I’d say the vocals reminded me of a blend of Alice In Chains and Ozzy Osbourne but not in the “oh God, get me out of here” sense.
Then came Make It Last, that beauty that pulled the borderline metal/rock of the generation beautifully together. This song is punchy and will make you go crazy.
Best of Me plowed straight through Stand Out Front without much forgiveness, continuing that powerful heavy flow of a pumped up Creed (think the debut album) and a touch of 90’s Ozzy with enough originality that I really had a tough time describing it to you just now.
So Through finishes with a heavy, non-mainstream Hinder style with a metal ballad attempt that finishes this EP off nicely.
On one end of the shovel:
Abandoned Souls reaches into subtle Sevendust territory to deliver powerful riffs, rich tones and a structure reminiscent of that heavy hitting smooth metal you’re really wanting to hear but having trouble finding. It's actually tough to call it metal but it's a bit more than Hard Rock. I know that Three Days Grace and spinoffs from Sevendust may be a little comparable here. Abandoned Souls have enough originality to stand on their own and I’m honestly wishing I knew of them earlier in life. I had to put this on repeat for a while.
On the other end of the shovel:
The vocalist had a slight tendency to wane in that Ozzy Osbourne sounding style which almost threw the songs off here and there. But if you stick with it, the flow works well. If you’re a fan of the more mainstream, melody-stuck-in-your-head all day hits of the aforementioned bands, that’s kind of missing here. If you’re really wanting to paint Abandoned Souls as one of those artists you’ll be disappointed slightly because they’re too good to really be compared to anyone else. This is sometimes the downfall when you someone tells you that so and so band "sounds like" other bands you've heard of.
How deep can I dig it?
With 5 for 5 songs hitting me in that sweet spot of heavy rock that I love while maintaining authentic tones and some memorable riffs, making me feel like I want to go out and lift a thousand pounds of weights…well they score big! Also, since I’m not one to need a band to sound kind of like others even when they’re compared to them it ups the ante for me. While occasionally a bit of too much vocal strain could’ve swayed it out of my liking, that never occurred. This leaves me no choice but to dig Abandoned Souls Make It Last EP 8 out of 10 feet deep!