SOULICIT — Parking Lot Rockstar (review)

SOULICIT — Parking Lot Rockstar album cover Album · 2011 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
Time Signature
Hell meh...

Genre: melodic hard rock

Soulicit have garnered a lot of attention and even played at the 2012 Super bowl. Now, this may be a big stamp of acknowledgement from the mainstream community of rock fans, but, to me, it takes more than having played at a major mainstream American sports event. The important thing to me is that the music captures me.

And it does not quite do that on Soulicit's "Parking Lot Rockstar" - at least not in all the songs on the album. The music strikes me as being quite formulaic with focus on catchy chorus hooklines and softer verses and with spirit of the power ballad permeating virtually all songs on the album, even the heavier ones.

There are some nice melodic metallic riffs and guitar leads in 'You Are the Song', which also applies to "Sticks and Stone" both of which strike me as being very good commercial hard rock songs. 'Hell Yeah' and 'Blow Me Away' both feature some hard rocking riffs and also some nice choruses (although I think that the verse of the latter comes across slightly weak). 'To Cold To Pray', a heavy gunge-informed song, and probably my favorite song on the album, is actually very convincing and also has a soulful atmosphere to it. I would actually say that this dark track is an outstanding track, and I hope that Soulicit will explore this road more in the future.

The major issue I have with this album, I must say, is the vocals, as Darick Parson's singing style generally seems too polished and, to be frank, weak in comparison to the heaviness of the music. The vocals fall very flat in hard rockers like 'Hell Yeah' and 'Blow Me Away' and come across as very generic throughout the album - especially in the very uninspiring (to me at least) pop-informed 'Beauty Queen', 'Parking Lot Rockstar' and 'It's Complicated'. In all fairness, he does an excellent job in the three last tracks of the album in which his singing has just the right degree of intensity and just the right amount of power.

I do not think that Soulicit's "Parking Lot Rockstar" is a bad album, and I definilely enjoy listening to the elements that appeal to me, but it is not the kind of hard rock album to kick my ass and make me rock out. It is simply too polished, formulaic, and generic, and contains too many pop rock elements for my taste. Still, if you are interested in heavier music but come from a pop background, then I think that this album will provide an excellent entry point to the wonderful world of hard rock and metal (and it beats Lady Gaga and all that shit on any day).
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