X-Plicit
Like a Snake

Like a Snake is the debut album by Italian hardrockers X-Plicit, it is an album with a cover that is fairly typical of the genre with some snakes and a skull on the cover. And judging by the cover it is no surprises that the label states that it is for fans of Skid Row, Guns ‘N Roses and Aerosmith. The songs also bear typical hardrock names and isn’t a quartet of a vocalist, guitarist, bassist and drummer the most common hardrock line-up? It certainly doesn’t look like there are surprises on offer when just looking at the artwork and titles but it is always good to leave room to be surprised, in case of unexpected brilliant ideas.

There is nothing unexpected here; it is classic hardrock with catchy choruses, and a bit of energy. Classic rough hard rock vocals, simple and straightforward mostly up-tempo songs with a ballad breaking it up a bit. The production is good and modern but there isn’t much that stands out about it. The variation is decent and is helped by the album having a sensible playing time, it makes it seems well thought out in terms of playing time and such. The energy is good and it seems like a band who knows and likes what they are doing.

X-Plicit don’t really offer anything we haven’t heard before or anything explicit, they offer simple and straightforward hardrock. And they do it well; problem is that so does a whole lot of other bands. Good thing though is that while most of these bands give us dull trivialities there is at least a soul in the music and they convey the joy of making great music to the listeners. I think this is a good album, it may not really stand out but there is hit-potential here and a few fairly enjoyable tracks like the opener, the title track and the one called I’m Original, a track that isn’t particularly original though. Fans of classic simple hardrock should have lots to enjoy on this album.

This is for those liking the simple and straightforward hard rock music; it is a likeable album with good tracks and a solid debut effort. It may not stand out too much in the saturated hard rock business but it has a bit of soul and life and it is easy to like. Fans of the traditional hardrock genre should certainly have a look at what these Italians have to offer.

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