F5 - A Drug for all Seasons

Artist: F5
Record: A drug for all seasons
Published: Cleopatra, 2005

David Ellefson didn’t want to rest on his laurels after Megadeth was (temporarily, apparently) dissolved. Nope, it was too early for retirement. So he, Dale Steele, Steve Conley, Dave Small and John Davis formet F5.

The music is hard and heavy, but always melodic -- promise of sweetnesssss :-)

I gotta admit I was very curious as how they would sound; all I knew was that they wouldn’t sound anything like Megadeth. I immediately liked the sound of the record, and you can hear they know what they’re doing. But I couldn’t help but feel that didn’t quite hit the spot, there was still something left to be desired.

You can sense already with the first song there is something good comming, with "Faded", but I guess they are at a stage where they concentrate too hard to find their own sound that the songs become too much alike. Much of the "Faded"-sound is kept throughout the album. "Fall to me" raises the pulse again, but it really doesn’t take off yet. The same with "Bleeding". "Hold me down" promises a lot, but doesn’t deliver for "the big one". OK, it was still a good album, but just not great. And it’s their first one, so they’ll make "the big one" later. But then came "Look you in the eyes" -- HOLY SHIT! That’s the one! At last they took it all out! They saved the sweetnessssss for last...

But something strange; I can’t help but think about Blaze Bayley, Iron Maiden’s former singer, on "Hold me down". And at the beginning of "Look you in the eyes" I can’t help but get a Bruce Dickinson-vibe... (Iron Maiden’s present singer). Is it only me?!?

Highlights
Obviously "Look you in the eyes", but "Hold me down" is also good, as is "Bleeding". They’re too experienced to make any poor songs.

Web site: http://www.f5theband.com/

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