CD review MARK SLAUGHTER "Halfway There"

(8/10) Slaughter was a band that was swinging a hot bat in the early 90’s. The guys supported Kiss and Cinderella on tour, all based on their successful first two long players “Stick it to Ya” and “The Wild Life”. Slaughter released three more records with the last one being out there in 1999. The quartet had to face some bad luck with the grunge era coming up which basically made life difficult for sleaze metal bands. From then till now Slaughter played some live shows in different line-ups without releasing new material.

Instead of having a new Slaughter album out on the market it was the band’s name giver Mark Slaughter who published a solo debut in 2015.

“Halfway There” is the sophomore record of the American musicians and it will be released via EMP Label Group. I have to say that my expectations haven’t been too high. We have seen too many disappointments over the last years. The more I was surprised of what reached my ears. This longplayer features ten new songs and all of them are pure and powerful hardrock. The catchy rock anthem “Hey You” opens up an album that is full of great songs. Slaughter doesn’t reinvent the wheel with “Halfway There”, but he takes the best of hardrock, glam rock and sleaze rock for creating an album that comes with an excellent vibe and a cool groove.

“Halfway There” includes everything you expect from a rock solid hardrock album. Catchy tunes like “Supernatural” are present as well as heavy grooving tracks such as “Conspiracy”, a song that reminds me to the earlier Alice In Chains days. More ballad-like stuff needs to present on such an album too and you get these moments. The soulful “Disposable” is one of them and also the bluesy closer “Not Here” is build on more quiet parts with a gently singing guitar.

“Halfway There” combines exciting hardrock with a more than solid production. This album fires on all cylinders and should be checked out by fans of 80’s hard rock. You will be no disappointed.

(8/10)

Tracklist:

1. Hey You
2. Devoted
3. Supernatural
4. Halfway There
5. Forevermore
6. Conspiracy
7. Reckless
8. Disposable
9. Turn It
10. Not Here

Label: EMP Label Group

Genre: Hard Rock

Release Date EU: May 26^th, 2017