Hericane Alice is one of those second wave hair metal bands who never got their due. I wouldn’t call them “great” per se, but they were a cut above many of the poodle haired boy bands of the era. In less than a year, all of these acts would meet the cruel hand of fate that was grunge. Hericane Alice was no exception. It’d be nearly a quarter of a century until a full scale reunion and 30 years until a new full length album in the form of Gotta Be Real. With a running time of a little over a half hour and 6 songs (one being a cover), some might call it an EP, but let’s not fret over trivialities.
Gotta Be Real starts out strong with three old school hard rockers: “Give Us What You’ve Got”, “Sex Drive”, and “Women Will Eventually Rule”. “Give Us What You’ve Got” is everything an opener should be. It’s fast, upbeat, and high energy. “Sex Drive” lives up to its name as an exercise in sleaze with a side of old school power pop via the chorus.”Women Will Eventually Rule” suffers some production hiccups, but does a good job continuing the sleazy mood.
Smack dab in the middle is a cover of Deep Purple’s “Highway Star”. Over the course of nearly half a century, this song has been covered to death. Nothing can touch the original and Metal Church’s version is the golden standard for covers. That said, Hericane Alice does a very respectable interpretation of this metal hymn. It’s not a by the numbers cover, but it doesn’t stray far from the original version either.
Unfortunately, at this point in Gotta Be Real, the train begins to derail. The title track and “Ha Ha” are worlds apart from the previous tracks. “Gotta Be Real” has a memorable chorus, but is held back by generic groove oriented riffing and thin production. “Ha Ha” manages to disappoint even further, sounding less like Hericane Alice and more like any given number of Affliction clad, Line 6 sponsored bands who clog modern rock radio.
If Hericane Alice releases any music in the near future, I hope they stick to the formula heard on the first 2/3 of Gotta Be Real. It’s as rocking and effective as any given cut off the last two L.A. Guns albums. Let’s just hope we don’t have to wait another 30 years for a followup.
5 out of 10
Label: Independent
Genre: Hard Rock
For fans of: L.A. Guns, Kix, BulletBoys