Tuesday 18 October 2011

Album Review: Chickenfoot - "Chickenfoot III"

Chickenfoot's second album - titled "III" simply to confuse - is a strange beast. While the supergroup's (Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony of Van Halen, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and Joe Satriani) was a fun filled record featuring bluesy numbers, hard rockers and a couple of tracks touching on heavy metal, the follow up sticks squarely to the hard rock mould. It feels at times that the band just haven't challenged themselves on this record.

It's not that the songs are bad - save for the atrocious semi spoken work mess that is "Three and a Half Letters" - it's just that they seem to have phoned them in. Nowhere does Joe Satriani rip out one of the solos he's famous for. Nowhere does Sammy Hagar show the vocal range we all know he has. Maybe these songs will come to life in a live arena, but on record, they don't sparkle. Only "Come Closer" and "Big Foot" - as well as the hidden track "No Change" - come near to the quality that the band's exciting debut came to.

As I said, this is by no means a bad album, it just feels like four such talented guys could have done a lot more. Chickenfoot XXXIV - or whatever they title their next album - will need to be better than this.

***

Watch: "Big Foot"

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