Chaotic Catharsis 

Coming off the back of their recent album Back From the Dead, American hard rock band Halestorm released a deluxe edition with seven unreleased songs. 

Back From the Dead is a strong, passionate anthem filled with power chords and energy. It was written as a way to survive the insanity of living throughout a pandemic. Especially for a band that loves live performance the way Halestorm does. The band refers to their press release and discusses how the writing process for this new album started before COVID. With the long dense hours in isolation and without a creative release, it is easy to see how frontwoman Lzzy Hale referred to the writing process as “navigating mental health and … maintaining faith in humanity.” Finding the best possible outcome in the darkest of days seems to be a concept that directly influenced the song “Brightside” with lines such as “But I keep looking/ On the bright side of life/ ‘Cause it only gets darker/ We all need something to keep believing/ So I keep looking/ On the bright side of life.” During the pandemic, everyone felt their own form of darkness that came with sickness or loneliness. 

As restrictions have lifted Halestorm is gearing up to perform live once again, including a limited international tour. In the 5th track “The Steeple,” Halestorm uses religious imagery to describe the live experience. Religious and Christian imagery in rock and metal music is not uncommon, and is often used ironically, like in this very album where Hale sings about sin, urging listeners “don’t call me angel.” However, in “The Steeple,” church imagery is used to represent the artist’s relationship with the audience. Using words such as “cathedral,” “castle,” “armor,” “church,” and of course, a steeple. Hale said in an interview with Girl Guitar Magazine, “we have a primal need to be there. No matter what’s going on in any of our lives, as soon as those lights go down, you’re able to transform into whoever you want to be.” The urge to share music is never stronger after not being able to perform for over a year and a half.

The original album discusses the pride of femininity and power behind it. For example, in the eighth track, “Bombshell,” lines such as: “She’s not fragile like a flower/ She is fragile like a bomb.” In “Legendary,” part of the expanded track list, Hale specifies how they aren’t an object for one’s amusement, how she’s not a “treasure,” and refers to historically objectified women such as Cleopatra. 

The expanded album is a welcome addition to the original 11 tracks. “Mine,” the first single released of the new songs, is a fiery lustful song that mixes heavy rock with dreamlike synths. And it ramps up from there with the next one, “Fuck Yea” with Hale screaming out the title of the song before the fervent guitar and heavy vocals display the chaotic mental nature Hale is inferring. The rest of the songs, from “Wannabe,” to “Special,” is all an easy continuation of what came before with an added twist.