Halestorm Goes Balls To The Wall For "Amen"

Halestorm's Lzzy Hale has fast demonstrated herself to be one of the big league rising stars of heavy metal. "Amen" makes you want to kneel and thank your lucky stars she travels amongst us mere mortals. The woman's intense. She's all in, all the time. If I was to describe how "Amen" strikes a visual rather than an audio pose I'd ascertain to guess said visual takes the form of one unrelenting, burn a hole in your stomach gaze. Go from the first lyrics forward and the equation's clear. Lzzy knows who she is as a rock goddess. Not only that she doesn't need your approval to be her awesome self. Joe Hottinger serves notice on guitar. He's laying his brand on this moment. He maximizes the muscle to gain maximum credibility. Lzzy's brother Arejay hasn't been reduced to an afterthought but he doesn't have a heck of a lot to do here except make sure this party's on course for night to remember land. Are you an office desk jockey? Lzzy goes mild mannered day job throughout the video. There's that clock on the wall. There's that office restlessness so many of us could sing the words to in our sleep. If ever anyone could spell out the whole "Don't call me baby" vibe it's Lizzy. She's aced marginal day to day world 101. It's the very many little things that add up to a glorious whole here. Somewhere a fire burns. Somehow the world keeps turning. It's hard to keep your heart from freezing in apathy. That's truth learned the hard way. You wouldn't think "Amen" a joint clocking in at not even 3 minutes would manage to hold your attention span but Halestorm makes the most of what it has. Josh Smith has this otherworldly sense confirming the meter's running so he doesn't waste energy much like a boxer doesn't waste punches because that's how he's got ammo left for the later rounds. "Amen" doesn't do much chord shifting. That's definitely working for the bunch of them. Remember I said relentless gaze? The guitar playing matches that don't take your hands off the throttle uncompromising Halestorm ethos. Lzzy throws the kitchen sink in with the rest of the kit and kaboodle on the wordsmith sheet. Lzzy's not afraid. She can look long odds in the eye without batting an eyelash. She delves into polar opposite meanings as you scroll down the score sheet specifically the line "The truth is gonna lie." You've got white lies which quite often are said to cushion blows. Then there are people claiming to know the absolute truth but lie to serve their unwholesome purposes. I take Lzzy to task for "Faith is gonna blind" because blind's usually the adjective going hand in glove with faith. That adjective needs to be outsourced to the retirement home for overused rock cliche lines. That pairing needs to get kicked to the curb. So there...my lone nitpick against this song. Lzzy gets to the point which many rock lovers like because who has time for the War and Peace version of rock fundamental awesomeness. Did you go prickly all over when Lzzy let fly a barbaric snarl at the bridge? Shame on you if the answer's no. She learned well from heavy metal pantheon legends to get that shrill tone just right. "Amen" isn't as animated as "I Miss The Misery" and that's fine. Where the former excels is getting the most bang for the rocker buck. "I Miss The Misery" was about leading one to believe man/woman knock down drag out war was a thing of beauty unto itself. Lzzy's will be done because she's dubbing it her kingdom come whether you like it or not. To which I and scores of other headbangers can say...amen.