Soul Doctor was not what I was expecting – at all. With “soul” in the band name and an album called Way Back to the Bone, I was expecting the blues or folk, and when I put the album on, I was instead greeted by heavy rock, but I'm not complaining.
I've never personally been able to seriously enjoy music in the metal genre because it irks me so much that you can't understand what the singer is saying (in today's metal, that is), even though the music is irresistible. However, Soul Doctor fixes this problem with lead singer Tommy Heart's clear, easy to hear vocals and their feisty lyrics.
Each song on Way Back to the Bone is almost completely different, especially lyrically. “I'm in a state of denial/a state of mind/that I can't get by somehow/....I can't stand losing” Heart sings on “Can't Stand Losing”, a particularly strong track about his competitive streak. Then, on “Coming Home”, he sings, “check it out/moving too slow/let the wind blow/....what I need most/to stand the test of time/it feels like coming home”. And then comes the album's tribute to the band's nightlife, “Welcome to the Party”, on which Heart says, “I live for the weekend/....welcome to the party/....I can't live without it”.
The music behind the tracks is, admittedly, not as good as Heart's voice, but it's still good. It's not as original as the lyrics, but it does the job of establishing Soul Doctor as a metal band (whereas the vocals do not). Most of the guitar parts are reminiscent of classic rock, but they're still played well and the songs are put together and blended in an original way. “Love Crashed Down (Boom Boom)” is particularly well-done, musically, with a bit of the bluesy twang I was expecting.
With a genre full of singers who sound the same, Heart's originality and range are refreshing (and, shocker, the band is from Germany – but still manage to sing in English more clearly than bands from the United States) and the music is faithful to the genre, making Way Back to the Bone a solid album that even listeners who dislike metal can enjoy.
January 29, 2010
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