I adore female-led rock and metal bands. It isn’t anything dirty or sexual or some kind of desire to be dominated; I just love female vocals paired with heavy guitars.
I stumbled across this little 7” without knowing anything about the band; I am glad that I picked it up because Alissa White-Gluz’s vocal work is fantastic.
Reason to Believe is melodic metal. That means it is heavy low-end guitar melodies, double bass drums, and understandable vocals with a sing-along style. This little 45rpm is heavy without being unintelligible. The vocal work is interesting because Alissa’s screams and growls are layered with her own singing. This stacking of her vocals leads to a really cool effect.
Reason to Believe is a touching song about not giving up no matter what you are going through. It is an inspiration being screamed at you by your spunky, anti-establishment, take-no-shit friend.
The b-side of this 45rpm is a superb cover of Shout by Tears for Fears. Wait, scratch that, the b-side of this 45rpm is a superb cover of Disturbed’s cover of Shout by Tears for Fears. It is far less industrial sounding than Disturbed’s version, but just as heavy.
This is a nice little 7” to own and it makes me wish that I had a jukebox to put it in.
