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Volbeat - Seal The Deal & Let's Boogie review



Reviewer:
7.1

141 users:
6.8
Band: Volbeat
Album: Seal The Deal & Let's Boogie
Release date: June 2016


Disc I
01. The Devil's Bleeding Crown
02. Marie Lavaeu
03. For Evigt
04. The Gates Of Babylon
05. Let It Burn
06. Black Rose
07. Rebound [Teenage Bottlerocket cover]
08. Mary Jane Kelly
09. Goodbye Forever
10. Seal The Deal
11. Battleship Chains [Georgia Satellites cover]
12. You Will Know
13. The Loa's Crossroad

Disc II
01. Slaytan
02. The Bliss
03. Black Rose
04. The Devil's Bleeding Crown [live]

Signed, sealed, delivered I'm bored.

Danish dynamos Volbeat return with their sixth offering of rockability metal; while not a bad release, Seal The Deal & Let's Boogie is the sound of a band treading water. With the band unable to shake up their identifying dynamics too much, they're stuck refining a sound that they seem to lack sufficient passion for to make a vital sounding record.

If you have followed Volbeat thus far, you will know that the band have been going from strength to strength as a band, and have been able to match their rise in stature with quality releases on each outing. Going from novelty gimmick James Hetfield-meets-Elvis metallers to heavyweights in the metal scene, they set themselves apart and brought a breath of fresh air to the fore.

Volbeat still pack a few punches and unleash some tracks on Seal The Deal & Let's Boogie that rank among their best. "Black Rose" is a straight-up rock track that shuns pretension and is just unreservedly fun. The title track features some great guitar work that plays on ex- Anthrax Caggiano's past with some energetic fret work that kicks the track off in style and gives you a strong reason to listen on. "For Evigt" is the most adventurous track on the album, featuring a folky breakdown and a chorus in Danish that gives the song a unique flavour, making you wonder why the band didn't maintain this sense of boundary pushing for the rest of the album. These three tracks seem destined for any future greatest hits compilations by the band, ranking amongst the band's best work and would hold their own on that record, shining like a beacon here.

The rest of the album isn't chopped liver by any means; the tracks are fun and are a good listen, although they don't hit the heights the aforementioned tracks do. Whether it's a lack of that lightning strike moment of inspiration or being somewhat average for the band's standards, the rest of the album plays out with good-not-great quality tracks. Tracks like "Goodbye Forever", "The Gates Of Babylon" and "Battleship Chains" are fun listens that give you good reason to listen beyond those three great aforementioned tracks, but are unlikely to make you search this album on their own.

This in turn explains why Seal The Deal & Let's Boogie is a step down from the band's prior work; while the album is still good, it is lacking in great songs that help elevate an album to that next level rather than sitting amongst other tracks in the mid range. The band is missing that spark for much of the album, with songs that are lacking that idea or riff to give it a strong flavour. In their current form, the likes of "You Will Know" and "Let It Burn" are a bit grey and colourless; ok songs but with no strong identifying characteristics.

Adding into this, the band lack their more experimental side, or at the very least limit it to only occasional moments, such as the folky breakdown in "For Evigt"; tracks like "Mary Jane Kelly" and "Marie Laveau" stop a few steps short of the same level of playfulness and as a result stay in the middle of the road where they can be hit from both sides rather than go the whole way. Neither track is bad, but they are somewhat plain on the whole.

Musically, the band are still on fine form; while they may not be pushing themselves as songwriters, they are still strong as players, and pepper the album with riffs and lines that are fun to listen to, albeit lacking that unique characteristic somewhat. Poulson's voice is still strong and powerful and has that characteristic tinge of soul; his vocal patterns may not be as adventurous but he is still fun to listen to. Larsen does a great job on bass, covering for the departed Kjølholm who left prior to the recording of this album.

In the grand scheme of Volbeat's discography, Seal The Deal & Let's Boogie would rank towards the bottom of the pack; it is a fun album to listen to but the band have done better before. The album is still enjoyable to listen to if you are a fan of the band and for casual fans, it just isn't their brightest moment owing to the strong albums the band have put out prior. With that said, the tracks the band do get right are among their best and give you a good reason to at least give the record a try, if only on the back of those three tracks.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 7
Songwriting: 6
Originality: 7
Production: 7





Written on 22.08.2020 by Just because I don't care doesn't mean I'm not listening.



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