Band:	Brides In Bloom
Album:	Bad And Beautiful
Style:	Rock
Release date:	March 2011

01. Love Criminal
02. Push Comes To Shove
03. Bad And Beautiful
04. Believe
05. The Ride
06. No Excuses
07. Another Way
08. When We Fall
09. The Long Goodbye
10. Fall From Grace
11. The Ride [acoustic version]
12. Season Of Love
13. Garden Of The Blonde Girls [live]
14. Tuleb Ette
15. Ta Tuli

Some of the most exciting news of the Estonian local music scene recently was the announcement of the Brides In Bloom reunion and finally the release of their début album Bad And Beautiful. I do understand that a reunion and début album together in one sentence kind of don't make sense. However, it does happen that bands don't get around to recording their material. This is one such band. After being fairly popular, doing great shows and festivals, the band split without a single release after being around for some 4-5 years. And now, some 4 years later the band decided to release their material, sort of repaying a small debt to their fans who supported them.

Contrary to what the name and the title of the album might suggest, Brides In Bloom are not a band consisting of brides. Nor a band fronted by one. As far as associations go - no, they ain't a sleazy glam metal band either. Brides In Bloom are essentially a soft sided hard rock band with good compositions, great riffs, nice tunes, and a charismatic front-man with a charismatic voice. However, as the name and the title suggest the lyrical theme does kind of circle around love. Together it's a nice combination for a good album if you are in need of something lighter.

In a way this band is nothing special nor anything particularly ground breaking. So, what is there to it? Well, don't you just like some excellent hard rock to go with your day? Sure you do. This is one such release. It's easy, it's rather simple, it has some edge to it, it also has proper ballads. I mean, anything you'd expect from a record of this kind. Yes, it's probably a cliché. But do you care about it? I don't. I just like it. It's something you might throw in a player for an easy relaxing ride in your car. It's that kind of collection of songs.

The easy way to find out whether you like this stuff or not, is to go on MySpace and just listen. From the tracks available try "Push Comes To Shove," "Bad And Beautiful" for more edge, "Another Way" and "Believe" for a ballad and a softer side of the band. Personal favourite, though, is "No Excuses" which is an awesome blend of both. If you like the songs, you like them. If you don't... well, you don't. It's that simple. In the end I'll just add that their singer Mikk Tammepõld really deserves the credit for his voice and his singing, he does a great job.