My first exposure to Crosson was the promotional material sent with this release, and the first true exposure was to the video for the song “Rest In Peace.” For somebody like me, this might not have been the best representation to first encounter the band. I have a severe aversion to joke bands and parody acts. I’m not a fan of Steele Panther for these very reasons, and am slow to taking to The Darkness. I’m fairly serious about my music intake. Don’t get me wrong, I do have a really good sense of humor and can laugh at myself quite a bit, but my music, that’s a bit of a different story.
If you are familiar with Crosson, you know where I am going with all of this. In the video we see the band, which I believe is actually the main man Jason Crosson (guitar and lead vocals). The backing members of the band are just long hair guys with t-shirts and two female backing vocalists flanking the lead vocalist. The lead vocalist looks a little older than the rest of the band, and is dressed like he fell out of a Japanese visual kai band. Long leather coat, massive boots, and a red a black hairstyle that is either a wig or a heck of a lot of time spent in a hair stylists chair.
“What the hell?” I silently muttered to myself. Is this a friggin’ Darkness thing, or worse yet, am I facing a Steele Panther band?
I did a little research. What I found, it would seem, is that it is neither. It is a pretty dead serious act, but this is a definite “image” put together for the show. Crosson has been around for almost 20 years, I found out, and have been playing with image and sound the whole time, trying to find that perfect mix. Earlier songs were a little more electronic, not as big of a ROCK sound as is found here, but the essence has always been the same.
So, what about the most important aspect here, the music?
Crosson plays massive sounding ROCK. Borderline 80’s Hairmetal, but showing touches of 80s Metal with touches of NWOBHM thrown in for good measure. Crosson seems to be most interested in delivery of choruses that are perfect for sing-alongs and possibly perfect for getting the masses together for marches. Stomping rhythms propel every song and a perfect marching pace. Wonderful guitar playing, solid drumming (at times the drumming is the star for me, with killer slamming beats and nice fills), and Crosson’s voice which is somewhere between Peter Steel (Type O Negative) and Steevi Jaimz (Tigertailz).
The first song, “Everyone’s A Star,” sets the table for everything that will follow. If on that first song you aren’t even interested, just move along. The song starts with a keyboard “march” feel (perfectly visualized in its video with a siren light), and then the drums and guitar kick in to propel this thing into that full blown “GRAB THE VILLAGERS AND TORCHES, WE’RE GOING MARCHING!!!” stomp that the band excels at doing. The verse is serviceable, and lets us know exactly what Crosson is all about, but it is the chorus that works into your brain. An insanely catchy chorus that almost doesn’t fit, but it still works. I do have to ask, however, if Crosson is familiar with the band Flipp, and especially the song “Rockstar.”
The aforementioned “Rest In Peace” is a damn near masterpiece, and should attract almost anybody with a love for Rock. A perfect mid-tempo pace with verse that instantly hooks you, but leads into the chorus which hits you right in the gut. The lyrics, written for Jason Crosson’s mother, are heartfelt and lacking of any melodrama. So even though that video caused me a few seconds of questioning, the song hit, and it hit all the right notes.
Title track “Rock ‘n’ Roll Love Affair” is probably the other song on this album that really wins my heart. The whole song is great, but there is a bridge in this song that is so well done, it elevates the song to a new level, that the song is just brilliant. There also seems to be a little more construction work to this song in particular that just causes it to really get your heart beating.
Kudos to Crosson for mainly being all after the BIG Rock. Even when they slow it down for one song, “You’re the Reason,” they don’t forget that their mission is to get you on your feet, get your fist raised into the air, and to get you interested in a Rock ‘n’ Roll revolution. My only complaint is that often times the verses are more serviceable than actual focus points on the songs. At times they feel like the main intent of them is just to get us to the brilliant choruses that are all over this album.
I don’t know how serious Crosson is actually, and how much is tongue in cheek. For my money, if this is all totally serious, and Jason is serious about his look, then that just endears them to me that much more. This is a strong album, full of catchy as Hell Rock, and sure to be one that sticks in your brain until long after you have hit “stop.”
Stand out tracks: “Rest in Peace” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll Love Affair”
8 out of 10
TRACKLIST
Everyone’s A Star
Givin Up Living Giving Up
Rest In Peace
We All Need An Enemy
Weak At The Knees (For A Hot Brunette)
Rock ‘N Roll Love Affair
Possessed
You’re The Reason
Merry Go Round
Back on The Attack
