Local boys Eve To Adam and I actually have some history. When I lived in Astoria, I actually auditioned for these guys when they were looking for a bass player. It seems every band has that one position that has a revolving door. For Eve To Adam, it’s the bassist. Since I’ve auditioned, I’ve seen them burn through three bass players. Either way, their core remains the same with brothers Taki and Alex Sassaris and extremely talented guitarist Gaurav Bali. If I can be brutally honest, since I didn’t get the gig, I really wanted to see these guys fail, so I didn’t really pay much attention to their debut CD, Banquet For A Starving Dog. When the opportunity to review their new CD, Locked & Loaded, was thrown on my plate, my original reaction was to bash these guys, but I decided to give it a fair listen and I couldn’t hate it.
Back when I was learning their songs for my audition, the one thing that stood out for me was singer Taki Sassaris’ voice. I thought this guy was amazing! Well, that feeling still holds true after listening to Locked & Loaded. Taki’s vocals were strong and passionate on every track, which to me was kind of refreshing to hear. Guitarist Gaurav Bali’s riffage in songs like the title-track, “Bender” and my favorite track, “Fortune Teller,” can make you a fan of his work real quick. Eve To Adam’s lead single “Straitjacket Supermodel,” which Taki says was inspired by the tv show Dexter, was a good choice to ramp up Locked & Loaded’s release.
Although I really wanted to hate this CD, I actually enjoyed it. My only problem with it is that, while melodic and anthemic, I feel like it’s all been done before. There is nothing here that separates them from bands like Pop Evil or Thousand Foot Krutch. If you listen to Sirius Octane, every band is starting to sound alike and this is just my opinion, but Eve To Adam are not doing anything differently with Locked & Loaded.
In A Word: Eh!
