Shred: Michael Monroe – Sensory Overdrive

 

1. Trick of a Wrist  
2. '78 
3. Got Blood? 
4. Superpowered Superfly 
5. Modern Day Miracle 
6. Bombs Away 
7. All You Need 
8. Later Won't Wait 
9. Gone Baby Gone 
10. Center of Your Heart 
11. Debauchery as a Fine Art 
12. Another Night In The Sun 
13. You're Next 
14. Right To Be Wrong 
15. Sleepin' With My TV On





Since the dawn of times Finland has given birth to only one rock star that isn't recognized only at the local K-Mart. Calling Michael Monroe a rock star though should be forbidden by law, because rock stars are self-centered jerks. Besides that, they are usually either stoned or drunk 24/7. Fortunately there is another term we can use to address our friend Mike. Michael Monroe isn't a rock star, he is a ROCKER.

What the person is like impacts their music as much as how well they can sing or play an instrument. Sensory Overdrive is one of the greatest releases of 2011 in rock music, because it has a pure feel of ”let's go to that room and play some butt-kickin' rock'n'roll” to it. Simple, fun and effective. No one should get offended by that.

Since this the deluxe version, it's 15 tracks of pure hard rock with some punk, glam and even country thrown into the mix. This variety needed, because while the old school flavored band has enough energy to go with full force for hour and a half in a live situation, it's good to catch a little breath once a while. Many bands can write a fast paced rock anthem, but can they also do a slowed down love song? The important part here is not that those songs are on the record (as you don’t have to listen to them), but the proof that they can do them. Yet Gone, Baby Gone isn't even a love song, it's more a break-up song in which the singer is bothering little with the past to focus more on the present and the times ahead instead.

Surprisingly, Sensory Overdrive excels in lyrics. That's something you might not first expect from a record like this. While the record flags to the good old times of the 80's, it still manages to be high-spirited about the tough times we're living through right now and optimistic about the future. Lyrical content like this is tricky to write without getting too much in the face of the listener, but Mr. Monroe manages to wake some awareness without getting tagged a hippie.

There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with this record. It has great musicians, variety, coherence, ability to withstand the dire test of time and most importantly excellent songs. Even the extra songs on the deluxe version are more like an extra gear than a vain effort of trying to increase the album's value. On top of these straits when I listen to records in my house, I often have to turn the volume way up to hear the music to kitchen, to bathroom or the living room, but in case of Sensory Overdrive I don’t have to do this because the sound simply penetrates through the doors and the walls without losing tad of its intensity. Brilliant! Michael Monroe could become a lecturer in sounds science.

Now to the flaws, which I admittedly had to search with a microscope. Debauchery as a Fine Art (the song Lemmy is on) has a bit silly guitar riff in the beginning and the band isn't exactly reinventing the wheel on this record. That's probably what is stopping me from giving it the same kind of standing ovation as I gave to Stam1na's Nocebo. Still, Sensory Overdrive is a must-buy and a mighty display of skill from a man and a band the masses didn't expect to come up with anything this vibrant anymore. It came (behind the tree) and it conquered.