Charing Cross
Pain & Gain

Swiss hardrockers Charing Cross are releasing their third album called Pain & Gain, an album I have now been looking a lot closer at and below are my thoughts on it. And the first thing I notice is that the cover is really boring. I also noticed that Charing Cross share guitarist with Crystal Ball and that the band Charing Cross has been active since 2005 so they are ten years now. Their first album was released in 2008 and this is as stated before their third album. And considering they are Swiss they had me thinking about Swiss hardrock, it is very similar in its style with everything from Krokus to Gotthard to already mentioned Crystal Ball – there isn’t much difference and Charing Cross is no exception to this.

Melodic catchy hardrock of a style that makes it hard not to compare them with the countrymen and giants Gotthard, it is often built around distinct choruses and strong melodies. It is kind of typical of the genre and I am not exactly struck by how impressively innovative this band is. The vocalist is a fairly typical hardrock singer as well and the sensation is that I have heard it before, even the first time I play the album. Decent production, kind of typical of the genre and I would say that the album almost gives me a sense of déjà vu when I hear it. But I would say that the tempo and energy is very good and I think that the album may be very appealing to fans of this kind of music.

The variation over the ten tracks is also okay, pretty much average for the genre as well and the playing time is little over 40 minutes. It is a good album whichever way you look at it; there are no weak songs and the feeling when listening to the album is a positive one. But as a critic I cannot overlook the complete lack of originality, the sensation of novelty when hearing an album for the first time is important for the overall impression of an album, this has no sense of novelty – something that is of course true about many other albums that are being released nowadays. Still, even with these little notes of caution it is a good album, sure it may not write itself into the scrolls of music history but it is enjoyable to listen to for a while and then you grow a bit tired with it and forget that it even exists.

I think the two ending tracks are the highlight of the album; the favourite is the ninth track Hell’s Breaking Loose that is a great track a very catchy chorus. I think that I can recommend the album for you who like Swiss hardrock like Krokus, Gotthard, Crystal Ball and whatever else there is from that nation. I like the album, it is very good but it is also very difficult to not be critical about the complete lack of originality and unfortunately for them they just aren’t good enough to get away with being unoriginal.

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