Halestorm – Reanimate 2.0 – The covers EP

Alongside their normal studio albums, Halestorm released a covers EP (Reanimate) in 2011, and then in October 2013 released a second one, (Reanimate 2.0) .  At the time it was only released in the US, but happily Atlantic are giving it a long overdue release in the UK to coincide with the band’s forthcoming UK tour.

The tracks covered are a fairly diverse bunch – Judas Priest’s “Dissident agressor”, Daft Punk’s “Get lucky”, Pat Benatar’s “Hell is for children”, Marilyn Manson’s “1996”, ACDC’s “Shoot to thrill” and Fleetwood Mac’s “Gold dust woman”.

Fans who have seen the band on tour in the last year or two will have heard Halestrom’s excellent version of “Dissident Agressor” as it has been a regular part of their set.

“Shoot to thrill” is a great song and Halestorm do an excellent cover.  It’s one of those songs that is instantly recognisable as an ACDC song.  Lzzy Hale’s vocals work really well here.

“Hell is for children” allows Lzzy to show of a softer side to her voice during the verses while still unleashing more power during the heavier chorus.  It’s a slower softer song than the first three songs on the EP and as well as sounding great does give more diversity.

Straight after “Hell is for children” comes the Fleetwood Mac cover, “Gold dust woman”.  It’s another softer song and as with “Hell is for Children” Lzzy handles the vocals with ease – she does have an excellent voice that can handle the loud and powerful metal vocals needed for songs such as “Dissident agressor” as easily as she handles the softer rock vocals here.

The EP ends with “1996” and the power is ramped up again for this one – a nice heavy song to end the EP.

One thing that really impresses me with this EP is the choice of covers.  None of the songs are the really obvious ones to cover – generally bands tend to cover well known songs, such as Judas Priest’s “Breaking the law”, whereas Halestorm have chosen some less obvious tracks, which is really good and it shows not just that the band are choosing songs they like but also means people are more likely to judge these versions on their merits rather than comparing them to the original in minute detail as does sometimes happen with covers of well known songs.

The bit that impresses me most though is how good the songs all sound.  There’s a range of styles and Lzzy, Arejay and the rest of the band do a superb job with all of them.  The songs all have a live feel to them and feel to have a lot less production than a studio album normally would.

The only downside with this release is that the UK release is only available digitally from itunes etc, whereas the US got a CD release too.  If like me you prefer CD’s then an imported version is widely available from online stores such as Amazon, but if you prefer downloads then this release is good news and finally lets UK fans download the EP.

ReAnimate 2.0: The Covers EP will be released on 31st March 2014

Rating: 4/5

Track listing:

1. Dissident Agressor
2. Get Lucky
3. Shoot to thrill
4. Hell is for children
5. Gold dust woman
6. 1996

Halestorm are back in the UK in April for some headline dates to end the touring cycle for hit second album “The Strange Case Of…”

Shows are as follows:

Tue 1st Apr – NEWCASTLE O2 Academy
Thu 3rd Apr – SHEFFIELD O2 Academy
Fri 4th Apr – MANCHESTER Academy
Sat 5th Apr – GLASGOW O2 ABC
Mon 7th Apr – BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy
Tue 8th Apr – BRISTOL O2 Academy
Wed 9th Apr – LONDON Forum