2021 CD Reviews - Todd Michael Hall - Sonic Healing

TODD MICHAEL HALL
Sonic Healing
Rat Pak Records - 2021
http://www.toddmichaelhall.com

It's mildly amusing to me how I came to pick up this album. You see, the only real experience I've had listening to Todd Michael Hall sing was the Reverence album When Darkness Calls. And in all honesty, I didn't really get into that album all that much.

So the key ingredient for me picking up Sonic Healing at first blush was the fact that Hall teamed up with Metal Church guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof to write all the songs on the disc. I'm a big fan of Metal Church so I wanted to grab up the CD and see what it had to offer, particularly after hearing the first song released off the album. "Overdrive" is an electricifying rocker that mixed in a catchy chorus. This combination makes for a killer sound and performance with the song. It kind of blew me away and a big reason wasn't just Vanderhoof playing guitar. I found that I loved how Todd Michael Hall (who is the frontman for Riot V these days) sounded as well.

"Overdrive" opens the album and it pretty much sets the scene for the rest of the album. While there might be some expectation for a more metallic sound if you come to the album cold, this is a highly energetic and hard-driving hard rock album.

Songs like "All On The Line", "Like No Other" and "To The Bone" drive that point home with each track a lively rocker showcasing not only how good Hall sounds vocally but a pretty incredible musical soundtrack.

The relative lack of dark themes on the album give Sonic Healing a joyous kind of feel. The songs struck me as celebrating rock music. Even when the lyrical subject matter gets a bit heavier topic-wise, the music keeps giving the listener a renewed burst of amped up energy throughout.

The album features ten regular tracks and two bonus songs and there's not a one I found to be out of place. Heck, the chorus for "Somebody's Fool" sounded like they were talking about me!

The two bonus tracks are the ones that have the heaviest subject matter. There's a deep religious feel to "Not With A Sword", which I'd normally be turned off by but this song actually came out rather well and I could listen to it as a "story" without feeling browbeaten. The other bonus cut is called "The Other Side" and it isn't much of a stretch to see that the lyrics focus on Todd Michael Hall's late brother Jon (to whom the album is dedicated to). The lyrical content is pretty heavy but it's got an uptempo pacing that belies the serious nature of the lyrics and the mix of those two polar opposites make it a song that is a killer rock and roll cut as well as a fitting tribute to Hall's brother.

I found that three other tracks on the disc stood out to me as well. And they have a shared theme when it comes to the lyrics. Each of the songs features a kind of nostalgic look back at life. "Running After You" starts off a bit slower but after the first verse, the more rocking side of things asserts itself. The song is a look at the youthful days of love and how remembering those times can fuel life going forward from the here and now.

Meanwhile, the songs "Let Loose Tonight" and "Long Lost Rock & Rollers" key you into remembering the glory days of discovering one's love of music. "Let Loose Tonight" celebrates a love of music as a whole while "Long Lost Rock & Rollers" is more specifically geared towards how you discovered music in your youth and not forgetting those who made it.

I came to the Sonic Healing album in about as roundabout way as possible but regardless of how I got here, what I can say is that singer Todd Michael Hall's partnership with Kurdt Vanderhoof has borne quite the fruitful offering of ambitiously entertaining hard rock. I can only hope that Sonic Healing is the first of many collaborations because I definitely want to hear more solo work from Todd Michael Hall!