Love Junkie is the self-titled debut album of this powerful, rocking band and is described as a "'new school' Rock & Roll classic."
The band, Mark Day (guitars), Dan Elwood (bass), Jerald Gonzales (drums) and Tyna P (vocals) start off from the first track, "Rock Your World," with heavy riffs on guitars that continue throughout the majority of the album. Each song is heavily driven with these riffs, drums and the strong, unique vocals of Tyna P.
Love Junkie has taken a different angle to their music. The lyrics aren't all focused on what most Christian bands in the Christian scene focus on. They are not preaching at all, and most wouldn't even know that this is indeed a Christian band. Yet hidden under those guitars and the rock of the music, a great message still manages to get out. For example, "Heaven Will Always Love You" is a great song with up-lifting lyrics. The music is very heavy and fierce, which may cause people to get the wrong idea of the song. But listening to the lyrics, you get its meaning.
From listening to the album, it seems live shows for this band would be absolutely amazing. The energy and force put into the music comes through in the album. Produced by Mark Day, the album does a great job of capturing the real feel of the music. The only down side of the album is that each song tends to sound like the one before it. All have the same rock feel to it, and though it's very powerful and enjoyable, it gets to be a bit much by the time you near the end of the ten songs. Listening to it for the first time, it's hard to tell one song from another. But, if you like this kind of music, it probably wouldn't matter much.
The only song that really stands out as different is "Can't Breathe." It is a very beautiful song with a slower tempo than the rest. Through the verses, the vocals sound almost eerie with the diminished chords. The guitars are quieter and simpler, until you reach the chorus where they take off at full force yet again. It is definitely the song that, in my opinion, is the best track on the album. It succeeds in expressing a bit of every sound.
The last track, "The Rose," starts off with the feel of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man." The sharp, hard chords open the song and reflect that effect Sabbath got across. I'm not sure if that's what they tried to do, but they certainly succeeded in getting it, whether they wanted to or not.
Overall, the album is an ear pleasing one, and one worth listening to more than once. One quote that grabbed my attention says it all and is a perfect example of their message:
"Well past the madness of everyday life, beyond the endless expectations of society, far from the fear of personal failure lies the land of Forever Love."
3 tocks
