The problem with most CD reviews is you only
get the opinion of the one critic doing the review. So we thought it might
be fun to try something new here by giving the exact same CD to two different
critics (or more) and see what they each come up with and just how much
difference a single critic's opinion can make.
Note: due to the nature of this series, the reviews
may tend to be more in the first person than you are used to with music
criticism.
F5 - A Drug for All Seasons
First off Zane Ewton give us his take
on this CD
Everyone knows Dave Mustaine is an ass.
It must have taken Dave Ellefson a little longer to figure that out. Now
after a messy split, Ellefson has come right out of the gates with a new
band and a new record. F5 and their record A Drug for all Seasons
is a heavy but very melodically minded piece of work.
Other than a terrible cover of a worse
song ("What I Am" by Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians), the band sticks
to a formula of metal riffing with acoustic touches. F5 is a band with
accomplished musicians. Unfortunately it feels that they may be going through
the motions. This is metal by the numbers.
Singer Dale Steele sounds like he comes
from a long line of metal singers who all sang the same way. John Davis
and Steve Conley supply the guitars. While some of the riffs are run of
the mill, the acoustic touches add some variety and range. Drummer Dave
Small and Ellefson keep the rhythm tight.
It would have been great for Ellefson to
really stick it to Mustaine and release a great album that really grabbed
the metal community. With A Drug for all Seasons, that metal community
might not find enough bite or crunch for their liking. They will find a
record that has some promise though. F5 looks to be a band with an interesting
vision. Hopefully they can fully realize that vision with another few albums.
Now Kevin Wierzbicki gives us his take
on the CD.
Somehow David Ellefson found time in between
his squabbles with his former Megadeth band mate, Dave Mustaine, to record
an album with a new band, F5. Apparently the off-stage dust-ups haven't
affected Ellefson's ability to concentrate on music as A Drug for all
Seasons attests. This is good old heavy rock that's very melodic and
geared toward radio play; not so skull rattling that it becomes offensive
but by no means fluff, either. Don't expect Megadeth here; think more along
the lines of a slightly harder-edged Van Halen. Dale Steele has a strong
voice and his singing is not unlike the non-campy side of David Lee Roth.
The band picks an odd choice for a cover song in Edie Brickell's "What
I Am" where Ellefson boosts the poppy bass line up a little and Steele
drives the three-word affirmation home amongst the band's thunder. The
version turns out to be the most memorable song on the disc. Ellefson shows
off his finesse on the 12-string bass on the set's closer, "Forte Sonata."
The instrumental is played entirely on the one instrument but it sounds
like bass, guitar, violin and keyboard. After hearing the song one hears
subsequent plays of the rest of the record in a different light; being
able to pick out subtleties of Ellefson's work elsewhere.
CD Info and Links
F5 - A Drug for All Seasons
Label:Dead Line Music
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