CD-Review: Reckless Love - "Spirit"

The Boygroup in Rock and Metal is back! Boygroup? Yes, right from the beginning of their career Reckless Love seemed like a Teenie-Band to me. Their concept is that simple: put four good looking guys together, let them sing songs, which are more pop than rock ... oh and ensure that the singer is in every video half naked. The target group is obvious. That all seems a bit calculated and to be honest their second album was a slap in the face for every true Hard Rock/Hair Metal fan. But ironically Reckless Love want to be part of that genre. Let's see if they did some things better this time.


For all of you who haven't heard of this band before: "Spirit" is packed with extremely catchy, commercial Hard Rock hymns. A cross between Poison, Mötley Crüe, Crashdiet, H.E.A.T. and Wig Wam, but with much more modern twists and pop appeal.
It's very hard to assign Reckless Love to a specific genre. On the one hand they want to celebrate the Hard Rock of the 80's, but on the other hand they try so hard to be attractive to the mainstream and the young Teenagers ... too hard in my opinion. Sometimes you reach the point where you have to decide what you want to be. Like I said, their second record "Animal Attraction" was some kind of betrayal to the Hard Rock community. There were some terrible songs on it, which never deserved the brand "Rock" ("Hot", "Dance", ...).

First good news: Reckless Love didn't make the same mistakes this time! On "Spirit" you'll find eleven true Hard Rock anthems. The guitars are omnipresent and every song has enough punch and balls. First prove of this is the opener "Night On Fire" - a damn catchy track with a terrific guitar solo. The guitar work in general is excelent. Thumbs up to Pepe! Olli Hermans voice is also top notch again.
Next song "Bad Lovin'" is another winner. This one will make you move and shout with its very cool sing-along-chorus. It's the same with the following tune "I Love Heavy Metal", a tribute to all 80's Hard Rock Bands.
"Metal Ass" and "So Happy I Could Die" are also two fast, hard rockin' Metal songs. The latter is one of my absolutley favorites on "Spirt". It's nearly free from that pop-appeal. Just damn good Metal with screams, sharp guitars and a great chorus, that will make you shout. This tune will work on stage very, very well.

Reckless Love hold this very strong level on the whole album, they only loose a bit of the quality when it comes to the more calm songs. "Dying To Live" is a more melancholic song, but it's not as good as the previous songs and also "Edge Of Our Dreams" is not as good as similar power ballads from other bands. From all the half-ballads "Hot Rain" touches me the most.

There isn't a bad song on this album and this is a big increase, compared to the previous record. Sometimes it still feels a bit like plastic-pop with all the catchiness, but it's all acceptable. It belongs to their unique sound. Got used to it.
Productionwise everything sounds perfect. All instruments are well balanced, so you get a great transparent and punchy sound.

Finally I can say I'm very surprised. After "Animal Attraction" I did not expect such a strong record. Most of all I like the return to the true Hard Rock sound and all the shredding guitar parts. With "Spirit" every Hard Rock fan should give Reckless Love a second chance. The band managed it to combine their pop melodies with more hard rockin' edges and lots of attitude. The result is an album full of fun, power and melody. I hope they will follow this path on their next records. Welcome back in the Hard Rock game!

9/10

Tracklist:

01. Night On Fire *
02. Bad Lovin' *
03. I Love Heavy Metal *
04. Favorite Flavor *
05. Edge Of Our Dreams
06. Sex, Drugs & Reckless Love
07. Dying To Live
08. Metal Ass
09. Runaway Love
10. So Happy I Could Die *
11. Hot Rain

* best tracks

http://www.recklesslove.com/