Let's Get Serious

We've all been there, at least once: a band strikes absolute gold with an album, then inevitably fails to recapture whatever made it so great, as if not even they themselves were sure how they did it in the first place. Lightning in a Bottle aims to cover those (usually debut) albums that turned out to be one-time feats for their respective bands.

Now for something a little bit different...

A man with previous experiences in power metal decides to start a hard rock band, surrounding himself with competent musicians, and convincing a drummer coming straight from extreme metal to perform on his forthcoming album. No, it's not Worldchanger by Jorn, but it's a similar affair, only (spoiler alert) with a way better result. Outloud is another project by mastermind Bob Katsionis of Firewind and Warrior Path fame, who performs both guitars and keyboards duties here. He has constituted one of the band's two central figures throughout its entire history so far, the other being formidable American vocalist Chandler Mogel, who has showed his versatility in a number of other acts (Theater of the Absurd above all). For some reason, their 2015 LP Let's Get Serious also saw Katsionis' countryman and Nile's own human octopus George Kollias lending a hand (and all his other limbs as well) for the recordings. Guess that's something you don't see every day...

The band has always stayed loyal to a very nostalgic brand of '80s glam rock, and the fact that a couple of their albums, including the one here examined, were released for AOR Heaven should be the most appropriate warning for the average metalhead. In any case, Let's Get Serious manages to surprise, even if not completely given Kollias' and Katsionis' pedigree, for the fact that there's a decent amount of heavier stuff after two proper AOR releases (yep, this is the first non-debut I cover). You won't need to go further than the first seconds of the album to notice – already the barrage of double bass introducing opener 'Death Rock!' will suffice. Not to mention that the rest of the song more than flirts with 2/4 beats and even some harsh vocals. 'Wait... it sounds more like power metal rather than glam', you might be saying? Well, your mind isn't playing tricks on you, as 'Toy Soldiers' easily beats every Warrior Path song in terms of sheer energy, and there's even a short blast-beat section on the title-track, an inclusion that Katsionis really took pride in, according to the CD's liner notes.

I can hear you now. But no, Let's Get Serious isn't worthy of my – and your – attention just because it's heavier than your average AOR release. Cheesy '80s rock is still the focus, but this time even the most blatantly cliché passages stay enjoyable, and ultimately may God damn me if this album isn't one of the most infectious collections of hooks ever made. Every chorus is nigh-on infallible and even the instrumental title-track makes up for the lack of vocals by presenting an equally memorable recurring lead sequence. I can still remember my first listen to this with no effort, since almost every song remained trapped in a loop inside my brain for days. The initial exception was the acoustic-only ballad, 'It Really Doesn't Matter', but it later grew on me as well. I can turn my nitpicking mode on and say that maybe 'One More Time' is just a bit too pedestrian to be on par with the others, but then, for AOR standards it's far from offensive.

But what about the rest? It's one earworm after the other, plain and simple. From the most introspective numbers (the irresistible 'Like a Dream' and 'All in Vain') to the more apparently happy-go-lucky, but still musically serious fare found in 'Death Rock!' or the youthful anthem 'A While to Go', there's excellent stuff at literally every corner. Mogel owns the record like a modern reincarnation of Joey Tempest, and Katsionis doesn't forget to deliver quality leads, even conceding himself some shredding moments ('Another Kind of Angel', the amazing title-track). Every aspect analyzed so far is then gathered up in the apex of Let's Get Serious, the 6 minutes of perfection of 'Bury the Knife'. There isn't much else I can say about it at this point, just listen for yourself how smoothly the song goes through soothing verses, a majestic, layered chorus, a heavier bridge climaxing into an immaculate solo, with everything coming full circle at the end. Nothing short of glorious.

I'd say that the only fault of Let's Get Serious is, well, its unfortunate status of a probable fluke. Outloud might have taken its title way too seriously, as both its predecessors were too run-of-the-mill to be as enjoyable, and would be totally forgettable outside of a couple of songs. However, even worse is arguably that, after struggling so much to hit the jackpot, the band lost the spark again with Virtual Hero Society (2018), which upped the ante in the nostalgia camp (just look at its title and think if its initials mean something to you), but at the price of being unable to cook up a single chorus that could even dream of pinching a spot in the ~50 minutes here examined. Based upon their first two instalments, I could never have expected Outloud to make something like Let's Get Serious before, while now... I doubt they'll ever top it.

Oh well, we still have this little gem to enjoy, if nothing else. Warning: it won't leave your head for a long time.

To only refer to Let’s Get Serious as a hard rock album is a criminal understatement; it borders on the cusp between ‘80s hard rock, of course, and keyboard-enriched melodic metal. This makes all the more sense when you realize the lead guitarist and keyboard of Outloud is Bob Katsionis, well-known for his work with Firewind and Revolution Renaissance, as well as his own solo project. However, unlike those bands where the synth work was always a focal point of the band’s sound, Outloud’s third studio album boasts more than several tracks where straight-up riffing is employed, and this variety amongst the tracks, along with the enjoyable songwriting and musicianship, is why I rank this so highly.

I actually can’t decipher whether or not this is supposed to be a serious album or not, despite the unambiguity in the album title. You look at the cover and you hear the first anthemic track on the album, “Death Rock!”, and you may expect some comical and nostalgic worship of the hard rock bands of yore, however you’re going to be pleasantly surprised when you hear everything that follows. The hooky hard rock riffs are ever present, but the entrancing keyboards on song like “I Was So Blind” and “Bury the Knife”, in addition to the more serious subject matters and originality, make it quite clear that the band has so much to offer than a generic throwback to the ‘80s.

I actually have no idea who wrote the songs themselves, but I’ll be damned if Katsionis himself didn’t have a huge hand in shaping things creatively. Much like his past solo album, many of the songs seem like potential Firewind material that had to be pushed aside after Firewind sought a less power metal approach on their newest album, and Let’s Get Serious benefits greatly from Bob Katsionis’ metal tendencies. There’s double bass on this album, furious guitar solos, an instrumental title track that’s miles better than anything Gus G. has written in the past year, and one of the best ballads in recent memory, “It Really Doesn’t Matter”. Hell, “Toy Soldiers” is undeniably the heaviest track here, and it doesn’t sound that far removed from power metal.

American singer, Chandler Mogel, delivers an absolutely amazing performance at the helm of the band. With just enough melody in his voice to appease the melodic metal style of the band and just enough tenacity to nail the rocking tunes, he enhances the band’s sound exponentially. A track like “All in Vain” showcases his pleasing timbre, while a song like “Death Rock!” is a great showcase of his more intense delivery.

I’ve been raving about this album for the past week on social networks, and a great way to sum up the mastery of Let’s Get Serious is to compare it to an amalgamation of Firewind’s melodic edge and Unisonic’s hard rock/heavy metal sound. Even a cover of “Enola Gay” manages to come off as more than listenable and less cheesy than one might expect. The mashing of hard rock and metal is accomplished so well and seamlessly that I’ve had this album on repeat for the past few days, and I have absolutely no qualms about giving it a perfect score. I wish there was a downside to Let’s Get Serious that I could nitpick at and criticize endlessly, but it’s a perfection of an album that Outloud deserves recognition for.

Written for The Metal Observer