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Few bands have come charging out of the blocks as fully formed as Halestorm. Right from the beginning, the Pennsylvania quartet knew exactly who and what they wanted to be, and with their 2009 self-titled debut they laid down the blueprint with which they’d build their career. Hook-heavy hard rock, squealing guitar solos and world-class, iron-lunged vocals from singer and guitarist Lzzy Hale are their bread and butter – a formula that has lifted them into arenas, onto main stages, and bagged them a support slot with Iron Maiden this year.
On sixth record Everest, things start out the way you expect them to carry on. The band’s last album, 2022’s Back From The Dead, saw them turn in the heaviest, angriest material of their career, and Everest opener Fallen Star picks up where Back… left off, with a metallic riff that quickly settles into a groove, and Lzzy displaying every inch of her power and range. After that, though, things start to veer off-script.
Everest is easily the band’s boldest work to date, boasting some of their most interesting songs yet, due to some tweaks to the template. Take the labyrinthine title track – a shapeshifter that segues from a slithering, snake-like intro into an overwrought, showy chorus with a mournful lead guitar from Joe Hottinger. It’s unlike any other song in their back-catalogue. Watch Out! sets a new pace for the band; it’s a rampant, Motörhead-esque thrash-a-thon, with Lzzy veering between an Alice In Chains drone and screaming blue murder as the rest of the band put their foot to the floor.
Meanwhile, K-I-L-L-I-N-G has an almost System Of A Down-ian bounce to its cheerleader chant chorus, and is perhaps the closest the band have come to properly replicating the sheer power of their live show. Single Darkness Always Wins feels similarly out of step. The fist-pumping, triumphant chorus is quintessential Halestorm, made for uniting large crowds, with Lzzy crooning, ‘We’re all fighters, holding up our lighters.’ And yet, the journey to get there is less predictable, slowly but surely unfurling from stark keys and a restrained vocal, before a crescendo of squealing guitars is unleashed.
It would be wrong to frame Everest as some kind of massive departure. Halestorm are always going to be Halestorm, and every track is instantly recognisable as the work of its creators. Heartland tracks include gothic-tinged ballad Gather The Lambs and bluesy stomper Rain Your Blood On Me. The album closes on the familiar with How Will You Remember Me?, a Halestorm 101 ballad complete with inspirational lyrics, as is now their traditional album sign-off.
But with Everest, it’s clear the band have pushed themselves out of their box more than ever before. There are moments here that will delight fans and undoubtedly become new live show mainstays-and with new flavours abounding in the mix, it’s their most exciting, eclectic album yet.
Everest is out on August 8 via Atlantic.
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