Search - Firehouse :: O2

I really WANTED to like this album, but...

C. D'Orso | Middle Island, NY USA | 09/14/2001

(2 out of 5 stars)

"...I just couldn't. I'm a big Firehouse fan. I have all their other albums, and they were the first concert I ever went to (opening for Tesla in 1992). I think CJ Snare has one of the classic hard rock voices of all time. Heck, I'd even name my kid "CJ". And like I say above, I REEEEALLY wanted to like this album. I wanted to crank it up loud as I drove down the Long Island Expressway tonight on my way home from work. But I just couldn't.There are good tracks, there are bad tracks. "Jumpin'" is fun, albeit cookie-cutter. Actually, most of the tracks are cookie-cutter: "Don't Fade On Me" should be subtitled "(Every Hair Metal Ballad Ever Written)"; "Loving You Is Paradise" should be subtitled "(When I Look Into Your Eyes II)"; "Unbelievable" should be subtitled "(Every Hair Band Hard Rockin' Love Song Ever Written)"; "I'm In Love This Time" and "Call Of The Night" sound like early Motley Crue tracks to me for some reason.Then we come to "The Dark", which will, I promise you, rank as one of the worst songs EVER. What exactly were CJ and the boys thinking here? I don't know. They try to sound "nu metal," and CJ even RAPS (yes, raps) about e-mail, the "computer age", and "CD-ROMs, DVDs, vinyl LPs and MP3s". Yeah. Not kidding. Sadly, the chorus says it best: "Stay up to speed with technology, or you will be left in the dark."Is O2 a departure for the band? No, it's a standard FH album. And the fans will buy it, because that's what we do. That's what I did, and occasionally it will find its way into my CD changer for songs like "Jumpin" and "Paradise". (Hey, just because I panned it doesn't mean I don't like the sappy stuff - again, I AM a big fan.)But if you're undecided about which FH album to add to your collection, click over to "Category 5," which is probably the strongest release they have, top to bottom; or "Good Acoustics," which improves on every original from the first two albums AND adds some very catchy new tunes."

A step back into immature lyrics and mediocre sound

C. D'Orso | 11/04/2001

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This is a step back for Firehouse. I own all their albums, and this one just fits at the bottom. First, it's a little on the softer side and does not get you pumped up like the old albums do. It tries with songs like "Take it Off" and "Call of the night" which are good, fast paced and a reminder of earlier Firehouse. The rest of the songs though have no catch and this is mostly due to the cheesy lyrics. These lyrics are immature, some of them downright embarassing for a band, like "I'd rather be making love", I mean how cheesy can it get ?.
I also listened to the album many times just to see if I like the way it sounded , but the songs don't grab your attention. And when you combine poor lyrics with the boyish vocals of CJ Snare what you get is a high school adventure project that you can sell to the NSYNC and Britny Spears fans.
If you're looking for some great songs by Firehouse buy the albums "Firehouse3" and "Hold your fire" which are a mature progression to their debut album and have songs that you'd want to play over and over again, not to mention some heavier sounding Rock-n-Roll. Hoping to see better material in the future from these talented players, they can do much better than this !"

The Return of Firehouse!!

Anthony V. Fioravanti | Bensalem, PA United States | 11/14/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Finally!! The guys from Firehouse have finally followed in the powerful footsteps of Firehouse, Hold Your Fire, and 3. This CD should be titled Catagory 5 instead of the mellow CD that was titled this way. This CD actually puts pressure on Hold Your Fire. The band sound rockin' and tight. CJ's voice sounds great!! Metal/Pop Rock has turned to make a powerful stands again. It seemed that these late 80/early 90 bands were afraid to rock since music has changed to doom and gloom. It's good to hear melodies with power again. Look at the success of Bon Jovi's Crush CD. I hope this new CD, O2, will spawn a tour."