Damone – Out Here All Night / 2006 Island / 12 Tracks / http://www.damone.net / http://www.islandrecords.com / Reviewed 09 August 2006

I’ve heard of a lot of individuals liking Damone, but not much from the band themselves. “Now Is The Time” is the first track on “Out Here All Night”, and the band sounds more like the movie version of Josie & The Pussycats, Letters To Cleo, and Bif Naked than The Donnas and Sahara Hotnights. The style of the music is rock with a definite pop edge. The music that Damone puts out is catchy but can actually get fangs to it. Just listen to the guitars that open up the title track, something that would make black metal (Venom-era) fans salivate; the vocal style is more of the same pop stuff however.

The two styles are almost different enough to be like oil and water; it is only when the guitars aren’t wailing that the vocals can, and vise versa. Damone is the perfect act for individuals to cut their teeth on; they will act as a middle ground between those completely pop, Disneyfied acts, and those more rock/punk/metal acts that actually have some credibility in the music world. Each of the tracks follows the same type of formula for fame; the harder rock of the band peters out and the female lead singer is allowed to come back to the mic.

If Damone can start taking new styles and incorporating them into their music, chances would be better for the band to chalk up a complete success with this or future albums. “Stabbed in the Heart” sees Damone take a time machine back to 1985, and the lead singer removes eirself even further from the band, which takes a Scandal meets Hall and Oats approach to the track. I swear, “Stabbed in the Heart” is a re-do of Scandal’s “The Warrior”, with the singer taking more of a Lita Ford approach while the band moves to something more Nelson-based. The disc has a number of singles on it but there is little in the way of cohesion between the songs on “Out Here All Night”. If the band was attempting to do a “greatest hits” with the album, they have succeeded. However, there is little context for the songs on the album; I don’t know what to expect for the next track of Damone’s, and I feel less connected to the band as a result of that. Give this album to your little sibling that is just getting their first Ramoens shirt.

Top Tracks: On Your Speakers, Out Here All Night

Rating: 5.2/10

[JMcQ]