Robert Sweet - Love Trash

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Prior to getting this CD in the mail, I had been listening to black metal for like two weeks. So, it took me a while to get into a hard rock mood. After several listens however, I was in the groove and ready to give a fair review. Hard rock used to be my favorite style of music. Bands like Bride, Guardian, etc...were always in my stereo. That was 5 to 10 years ago though, and this is now. With the passing of time my tastes in music have become much more extreme. Don't get me wrong, this release is not stuck in a late 80's/early 90's time warp. It actually sounds quite current. It's just not what is "popular" now-a-days. You gotta admire bands that will put out music that is not popular. They care more about playing what they like instead of having huge sales. Now to the music. Robert Sweet (ex-Stryper) handles all the instruments. Drums, guitars, etc... None of the music is groundbreaking but its solid. The vocals here are handled by Larry Worley (ex-Fear Not & Love Life). I feel that the vocals on this CD are what really keep it from just being average. I've always loved Worley's vocals and he is just as good now as he was back in the day. Most of the music here is pretty heavy with the exception of "Sweet Betrayal" and the first half of "Me, Myself & You". "Help Me to Help Myself" starts off the disc. It's a heavy rocker with some chugga-chuggin' guitars and great vocals. I also like them using Worley as the background vocals as well. This adds extra emotion to the song. The only thing this song could use is a guitar solo or two. It just felt like something was missing. "Love Trash" is up next. This is probably my favorite song on the CD. The verses are slowed down with nicely sung vocals. Then the chorus rips into something much heavier with more aggressive vocals. The lyrics are interesting. "If I were a garbage man. If this world were a garbage can. You'd be my Love Trash." Basically, its talking about the everyday throwaway Hollywood relationship. "The F Word" is next. No, not that "F Word"! It actually talks here about forgiveness. I think Robert Sweet has hit on a good point here. Today it does seem that forgiveness is more of a nasty word than the other "f word" is. "Any Enemy" is next. This song did get on my nerves at first with its switching back and forth between soft and heavy in the chorus. But after numerous listens, I've learned to like it. "Me, Myself & You" is another good one. The heavier ending helps save the song. "I'm ?@#$%!" is another interesting title for a song. The chorus says: "Without you I'm screwed..." Basically, saying, that without God we're screwed. True - but not exactly the choice of words I would've used (due to the fact that my wife really dislikes the word screwed). Overall, I really like this album. The first 4 songs I feel are stronger than the last 4 are. This release isn't groundbreaking by any means, but it is very solid. I think it will appeal more to Fear Not and Love Life fans than it will to Stryper fans. But Stryper fans will probably still buy this CD, just due to the fact that Robert Sweet is heavily involved. My only complaints would be that the production could've been a little better, the short length of the CD, and the cartoon cover. Not very serious complaints. The only musical complaint would be for some guitar solos. I think they would have helped, but not having them all over the place didn't really hurt either. If you're into hard rock, or if you like anything that one of the guys in Stryper is involved in, then I would recommend getting this disc.  (Review by Matt) 

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