Vanity Ink-On your skin

Vanity Ink/Olennainen Valittyy
2007


This album actually came out a while ago, but I just got around to getting a copy. Vanity Ink are certainly heavier than I expected and although rather simplistic at times, they approach more of the tracks with a rather furious energy that pays off in the long run. They mix up the pace and style rather well while still managing to stay within the realm of hard rock. There was a song or two that reminded me of "Slave to the grind" era Skid Row and a song or so that reminded me of the better material by Smashed Gladys. Yet they also manage to forge a bit of their own style as well and it's an approach that's worth a listen.Vanity Ink's style is heavily founded in hard rock, but there are some strong pop driven melodies and the music even has some traces of some more basic punk rock fury as well. Vocalist Annabella has a powerful voice and can change the mood of the song with the inflection of her voice. At times the music can be raw while at the same time the vocals are smooth and yet somehow the overall effect of this still comes off rather nicely. I was actually taken by most of the songs right away largely due to the hooks and catchy vocals. That's somewhat rare for me because it normally takes more than one listen for me to warm up to many albums. The biggest down side here was that a few tracks towards the middle of the album didn't have quite the electric feel of the opening and closing tracks. Since they play a rather basic style I think there is a tendency to become a bit too repetitive and that does happen here on a song two. However, "On your skin" is primarily a good stab at bringing at least a partially fresh spin on hard rock. I am certainly glad to see a band take risks if if not everything works perfectly. Definitely one to check out and keep an eye out for this band in the future.

http://www.myspace.com/vanityink