Comments:
A couple of years ago, the Iowa band Vicious Circle turned a lot of
heads with their debut release that was a unique brand of metal. Their
sound was somewhat progressive, extremely melodic, heavy as hell,
and also offered well crafted songs with poignant lyrics. Besides
being talented songwriters and musicians, they boasted a lead singer
who could sing ANYTHING, and do it well. Unfortunately for Vicious
Circle, he has left the band. With that behind him, the lead singer,
Mark Moss, has released a solo acoustic CD called One Last Day
of Denial.
Moss
plays guitar and sings, and wrote all of the tracks on One Last
Day of Denial. The first track, "Feelin' High," brings
you back to when all the grunge bands started getting on MTV's "Unplugged."
The song is heavy, draped in attitude, and has a bit of an Alice in
Chains groove to it, although Moss sings nothing like a grunge band.
His voice is clean, warm, and can sing pretty much as high as he wants
to. He shows off his range at times on the CD, but he's not a screamer.
The CD ends with Moss belting out "Open your mind, you'll be
okay. In fact you'll feel fine … In fact you'll feel high!"
Damn fine start to this acoustic journey.
The
next song is more of what you'd expect from an acoustic release. Songwriters
have always been storytellers, and an acoustic setting is the best
way to tell said story. This track is basically about life, how some
are down and out and others are rich and give a whit for their fellow
man. The message is true, though: "So much you may want to change.
You can only change yourself."
Moss
stays on the painful life story track in the next song, "Beaten
Down." The soft guitar piece is accompanied by the tale of a
woman who would rather continue living with abuse than leave, because
after all, at least she's not alone. Depressing and great.
"Trapped
Inside" goes back to a more upbeat song, sonically, but there
isn't a lot of happy thoughts on this CD until he goes countryish
and nuts on a later track. "Trapped Inside" allows Moss
to show off his Vicious Circle type voice. In fact, an electric version
of this song would be amazing, especially as he shouts out the chorus.
The musicianship is strong throughout, but Moss's voice is the vocal
point of every song.
Now,
"Done is Done," shows a mature, balladeer facet of his songwriting
skills. The bass end is heavy, moody, but this is probably the best
vocal on the entire disk. To put it bluntly, only a professional could
sing along to this song and hit all the notes. It almost harkens back
to a Zeppelinish feel here, and the message is loud and clear: "You
made the bed in which you lie; You chose that path … forgive
me if I don't cry."
Just
so you know Moss can crank out the bluesy stuff as well, he penned
the hilarious "What Did I Say?" Now, this is straight blues
riffs, he sort of talks some of the lines and then really puts an
edge to his voice towards the end of the verses. In a bar, the patrons
must go nuts seeing this one live. "I think I love you more than
fishing. I think I love you more than my truck. I think we ought to
run off together. I think I love you, how 'bout we...what - what did
I say?"
The
rest of the CD keeps the quality on high. You can tell that Moss poured
himself into each song. He didn't skimp lyrically just to make it
rhyme, and he wrote songs that stay in your head after the last note
fades away.
Give
One Last Day of Denial a try. You won't regret it.
www.markmoss.net
Track
listing:
1. Feelin' High
2. Step Outside Yourself
3. Beaten Down
4. Trapped Inside
5. Where You Are
6. Done Is Done
7. Make It Through
8. What Did I Say?
9. Bad Things Come In Three's
10. Procrastination
11. Glory Hound
12. I Can't Dance
HRH
Rating: 8.3/10
