Album Review - Balance - Equilibrium

The kindest thing that can be said about this disc is that it is un-Balanced. Balance's "Equilibrium" tries very hard to capture an 80s feel while frolicking around in new musical fields. It just does not work. First of all is their singer, Peppy Castro. He is alright, in the sense that he can sing, but the flat tone, nonexistent range and nondescript vocal style lend nothing to the music. Despite the weak link of his voice, the songwriting decides to stick him up front and on display far too often. He's the kind of singer you hide behind some awesome melodies and just let the songs power themselves through to victory. A voice like this can't lead the AOR charge on its own. He's there to the sing the lyrics and that's about it. Speaking of lyrics, they are fairly terrible, and especially bad when trying to pull that whole "Lifetime movie" sentimental storyteller bit. Embarrassing cheesy ballads and tracks about not giving up on your drug addicted little harlot, doesn't help to trump the cause of the disc at all.

Musically, it's all over the bloody place too. From ripping on Bon Jovi and Journey to throwing in strangely heavy guitars at inexplicably off moments, Balance is a disjointed mess. There's talent here, just badly misused. Considering this is their first album in 27 years, with only two previous titles to their name, with the second in 1982, "Down for the Count" earning the most attention before they faded away...this effort seems a bit much too late. Trying to recapture those glory days just seems forced here. There's no finesse and the flat production only makes matters worse.

"Old Friends" seems like Journey or something of the sorts, but has this ridiculous chorus (and title) of "old friends" which is a horrible, horrible thing to throw into a song. Awkward and repetitive to the point of madness, even the attention craving guitars can't resurrect this one. It digs it's on grave. "Where the Rainbow Ends" has a few good moments mostly due to its bouncy, positive forcefed uptempo happiness. The false grin is marred by those struggling vocals and that silly gang bang vocal chorus of "we can do it, we can really really do it". Who green lighted that (and the "old friends" catastrophe for that matter), patted them on the back and assured the band that yep, those were brilliant ideas, indeed? The chorus lifts it however, and that happy vibe is addicted in its own, lucky charms at the end of the rainbow kind of way. Although not as addicted as the girl child in "Walk Away". That's the aforementioned piece about being love with someone who's more concerned with their daily chemical fix than any human relationship.

"Winner Takes All" is another storyteller track, this one a weepy, seepy little ballad. Springsteen and Bon Jovi can pull these things off, and even then with varying results, but this just sinks like lead in water. "Crazy Little Suzi" has these dark guitars that bounce off the synth, and that's its most notable trait. It's a track about a lusty little vixen but lacks sexiness and subtlety. They bludgeon you over the head with animal force and that sums this one up. "Breathe" has the same pace and seems ripped right off of Bon Jovi's "Slippery When Wet", with some warpy 70s synth. "Twist of Faith" could have been from "New Jersey". And neither song is all that good either.

The ebb and flow of "Forever" works better than some of the plainer pieces. Wrapped in tons of synth and fluffy 80s goodness, there's enough background vocals to drown or hide anything going wayward. There's also a ripping bit of a guitar solo that strikes the right, ah, balance. This sounds like Balance and is the kind of stuff that they should have fashioned the entire album from. "Liar" is another winner, for different reasons. Oddly progressive, especially in the drum rhythms (Dream Theater) adds this progressive flavor. Warbling synth and sticky strands of guitars keep interweaving around the base, which is straightforward power rock. The opening acoustic of "Who You Gonna Love" is backed up quickly by raw electric six string action. Then it rolls into this smooth blues feel, like "lite" Whitesnake or an AOR version of Great White. The guitars give this one most of its shape and substance. A pretty fine track for what it is, and a nicely surprising oddity for the album. Fits the vocalist perfectly.

Balance "Equilibrium" is worth a check if you are a Balance fan...for those, the album offers up enough to redeem itself in the eyes of the true fan who has been slavering for a regrouping ever since the beginning of the 80s and their initital split. However, standards of this genre have been upped incredibly in the past few years and the flood of AOR albums up for grabs that excel and exceed the efforts here are numerous. If only this were not so bloody cheesy.

Written by Alanna
Friday, April 3, 2009
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Alanna: 4.5/10

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