Extreme - Six - flyctory.com

Extreme - Six

3.9

Rating

3.9/5

Flyctory.com Pros

The US rockers are back
Very good opening songs

Flyctory.com Cons

Beautiful Girls

In 1991, there was a band from Boston who stormed the international charts with a song: More Than Words. Extreme released that song and received platinum records as well as chart-topping positions in a wide range of countries. On 9th June 2023, they released a new album. The title Six already tells you: this is the hard rock band’s sixth studio release. I tell you everything else you need to know.

Extreme – About The Artists

Extreme have been founded in 1985. There has been a breakup / hiatus between 1996 and the mid 2000’s though. However, two of the four current band members also formed the band from the very beginning, Gary Cerone (vocals) and Nuno Bettencourt (guitars, keyboards). In addition, there are nowadays Pat Badger (bass, backing vocals) and drummer Kevin Figueiredo. Badger initially joined Extreme in 1986 and Figueiredo as part of the 2007 reunion, so that the lineup is unchanged since 16 years.

After a 1989 self-titled debut, the 1990 Pornograffitti album (which also featured More Than Words) has been the biggest success of the band. There were two additional albums before the hiatus, which worked out quite well, too. The key reason why Six is indeed just the sixth album of the band is that it is the first one since some 15 years, when the US-Americans released Saudades de Rock, their only release after the reuinion.

Extreme – Six – Track by Track

The twelve song album lasts 53 minutes.

1. Rise

Six opens with Rise, which has also been the first feature single of the album. The song is to me the best track of the album. It comes with excellence in guitar playing and a catching chorus, which stays in your mind and makes you sing-a-long to it even though you are already listening to one of the next tracks. The guitar solo, by the way, is an absolutely unique part of this 3:36 minute listen.

2. #Rebel

A song with a hashtag… Even Extreme has made it to the modern world with that title. However, the song itself is having a quite straight and traditional rock sound. The groove makes you think about blues metal. Nice.

3. Banshee

The first tracks of the album are a real treat, fans will love listening to these tunes. Banshee is a straight hard rocker, which is not adding any unnecessary stuff. With that purity, the song is one of the best catches of the album.

4. Other Side Of The Rainbow

Other Side Of The Rainbow has been the last single before the album release. Even though I like it and I featured it in the corresponding Songs of the Week posting, the soft style also misses a bit of a catch, of a grip on the sound. The style reminds me a bit of More Than a Feeling by Boston.

5. Small Town Beautiful

Eight songs are still ahead of the listen – and none of them have been released as singles before the album. Time to relax a bit – and go for a rock ballad. Small Town Beautiful is not bad, but I can’t imagine that this one is getting close to creating emotions like More Than a Feeling, not even in a short-term perspective. Not bad, though.

6. The Mask

The Mask comes with the groovy style of #Rebel, but is overall more rocking. This really leads to a nice listen. On top of that, Nuno Bettencourt is taking over parts of the vocal duties in this song, which also leads to a nice touch.

7. Thicker Than Blood

Thicker Than Blood is a quite unusual track of this album. Extreme is working a lot of electronic elements. This leads to a unique listen, but also feels less “honest” than the straight sound. Nonetheless, a nice alternative.

8. Save Me

The eighth song starts like another ballad, but then turns into a cheeky and snotty rocker. The song thereby profits from the very catching chorus, which definitely raises the mood of the rocking heart while listening to Six.

9. Hurricane

Rocker do ballads best – Hurricane feels to be another proof for that. Extreme took out the acoustic guitars for that and recorded a multi-vocal emotional beauty. A bit of a boy band touch on this album, but it is just too nice (and has that slight kitsch touch) not to love it.

10. X Out

X Out is relying on electronic upgrades of the sound again. This song even has some new wave character to me. The tenth track almost lasts six minutes, which overall feels too lengthy to me.

11. Beautiful Girls

Yeah, I give in that I sometimes read other reviews of the same album if I struggle with my thoughts about an album. Not copying, just checking what others feels about it. The one song, which made me struggle in Six, is definitely Beautiful Girls. The song does not feel like rock at all, rather like a reggae-blended summer-pop hit. The multi-vocal style which felt so good at Hurricane, does not work out as well. I don’t know under which circumstances the guys recorded this one – but someone in their team should have prevented it.

12. Here’s To The Losers

Whenever there will be an album called Songs which sound like Queen but are in fact by another band, this one has a lot of potential for the opener. Not bad at all, but Freddie and his band mates did better – and Extreme as well. I prefer Hurricane.

Extreme – Six – Spotify

Here is the album on Spotify:

Extreme – Six – My View

It feels so good to have new tunes by these guys. The first song feel very promising and are a treat for rock and hard rock lovers. However, there are some real down sides of the album. Overall, it is still a good listen – an EP of the first half of the album would have been a real treat, though.