SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: CARLA HARVEY – THE VIOLENT HOUR

CARLA HARVEY
THE VIOLENT HOUR
MEGAFORCE RECORDS

An EP by an established female singer that also holds a bachelor’s degree in Mortuary Business and Management as well as a Master’s in Thanatology, that has left her previous band. Probably just the same old screaming and detuned riffing with machine gun drumming. That or a bunch of power ballads, of course.

Thankfully, not at all. Carla Harvey, formerly of Butcher Babies, just released the five-song EP The Violent Hour with help from partner and Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante, and it’s melodic yet heavy, aggressive yet intricate, and, song-to-song, surprisingly dynamic.

Fans of Carla Harvey’s previous work do not need to be worried as this is not a sellout piece of power ballads by a former musical hard hitter. She lets her voice rip in the opening track “Sick Ones” and does so till the end in the EP’s title track. But, as a hard rock songwriter, she goes further. The lyrics to “Sex and Cigarettes” are funny as are the romantic joys of sloe gin fizzes in “Portland, Oregon”. She also taps into diabolical irony in the “Hell or Hollywood”—the refrain of “Do what you want/Not what you should/Here in Hell/Or Hollywood” exemplifies that while being as toe-tapping as anything on rock radio. Considering that she wrote all the lyrics herself, one gets the sense that Harvey was having fun penning each song while being as fresh and creative for this EP outing. But, of course, there’s no indication of her wanting to dilute the sound or her own reputation as a true hard rock and heavy metal warrior.

As to the music, Harvey also seemed to know whom to turn to for band support and, in doing so, surrounded herself with the top likeminded professionals in the industry. Former Marilyn Manson axe-slinger John 5 shreds with trademark speed on “Sick Ones,” Black Label Society’s Zakk Wylde does similar rapid, exciting fretwork on “Hell or Hollywood,” and the Mr. Benante drums with gusto and drive throughout. The use of acoustic guitars to introduce many of the songs are delightful textures, as are the multiple tracks of Harvey’s voice on “The Violent Hour.” In fact, Harvey’s voice is sonorous throughout, and her trusted hard-rocking colleagues push that voice and the songs on The Violent Hour to great audio delights for the listener.

Whenever other music giants go solo or turn to smaller, more personal projects, fans get worried about creative excesses or lacklustre sounds compared to previous work. Carla Harvey’s fans can rest easy: she’s avoided both, doubled down on her challenging herself, and created the tightest of hard rocking EPs metalheads and other rock lovers could ask for.

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