Sunday Singles: Rockstar Frame-"Christmas Rape"

Musicarchy Media
2017

Formed in 2012 by drummer Max Klein, Rockstar Frame is a (Top Notch!) heavy rock/hard & heavy band from Italy that I have talked about on numerous occasions (link). This socially-conscious/emotionally-powerful single was released earlier in the month and it is the first song from Rockstar Fame to feature new lead singer Kiara Laetitia (ex Skylark, Virgin Steele). Having gone through a line-up change sometime after the release of "Bullet For Birthday ", Rockstar Frame would be forgiven had they lost any steam. Despite the set backs, "Christmas Rape" is a tremendous number that goes a long ways towards pointing out Max's skill as a band leader. Packed with passion and intensity, Rockstar Frame's latest single also showcases Kiara's amazing set of pipes! If this new song is anything to go by (and why shouldn't it be?), Kiara Laetitia and Rockstar Frame are a match made in heaven!! Rockstar Frame has a new album set for release in February of 2018. A tour of Europe will follow in it's footsteps. While my location in the U.S. might make a live performance impossible for me to witness, Rockstar Frame's next album will be reviewed on this site. That alone makes me anticipate the change from 2017 to 2018!

Rockstar Frame-Bullet For Birthday

Musicarchy Media
2017

Rockstar Frame is a female-fronted heavy rock/hard & heavy band from Italy. The skilled group was formed back in 2012 by drummer Max Klein and lead vocals come courtesy of the amazing Faith Blurry! Two months ago I wrote about their choice cover of "Dark Necessities"* (Red Hot Chili Peppers), but in all honesty I have been a HUGE fan of Faith Blurry and company for a very long time. First introduced by way of the cool single "She's Hot", Rockstar Frame's 2015 debut album, "Rock 'n' Roll Mafia" is absolutely killer! Two years has passed since that gem was uncovered and yet I can still feel it's electrifying effect on my rock and roll loving soul!! If you would have told me then that the band would be even better now...well, I wouldn't have called you crazy, but I would have been a bit skeptical. With that said, Rockstar Frame's new album will drop at the end of the month and it gets solid marks in my book! Recorded and produced at Temple Of Rock Studios by band founder Max Klein, "Bullet For Birthday" opens up with the great "I Want More" and from the very start Faith's voice is exceptionally strong and powerful! In that regard nothing has changed for these Italian rockers, "Bullet For Birthday" simply reaffirms Faith Blurry's status as the group's primary focal point. On the band's sophomore she pairs up nicely with Morris Steel's aggressive guitar playing and the thick bass lines of Andy Di Bella. Keyboardist Ace Wave rounds things out for this hot-blooded hard rock band and his work is every-bit as welcoming as the flashy guitar licks, thundering bass lines, and the rock-steady drumming of Max Klein! As far as follow-up albums go, Rockstar Frame's four male members pick right up where they left off in 2015. These talented musicians surround Faith Blurry with style and (real) substance. As they put the ROCK into Rockstar Frame, Faith Blurry takes hold of the mic and blows everyone away with her set of pipes! When this band gets up and starts really going for it then it is easy to understand how they got the tag "New Guns N Roses with killer female vocals"! That all fine and dandy, but what really impresses me is how Faith flawlessly handles the softer moments of "Here I Am"**. With guest Alessio Langella on acoustic guitar, "Here I Am" offers a sneak peak at Faith Blurry's vulnerable side and it makes you truly appreciate just how versatile this up-and-coming band really! Equally adapt at heavy rockers and semi-ballads, Rockstar Frame moves you with the likes "Goodbye Tonight" & "Healing Song" and then turns around and gives the song "Running Away" a power rock edge with some serious kick! "Secret", which is a cover of a song by Stevie Anders and And Pontremoli, is another cut that ups the ante and gives the listener something solid to chew on. It falls somewhere in-between Guns N' Roses and The Runaways with (pre-"Take My Breath Away") Berlin serving as the short bridge that divides the gap! While I wish this album had more moments like that, "Bullet For Birthday" gives you a little bit of everything. It's heavy rock and heavy metal. There's power rock and then you have solid numbers where pop rock is stretched to it's breaking point. In a scene where there is more fluff than fury, rock albums like this are a welcome sight to these old eyes. Frankly speaking, "Bullet For Birthday" is enjoyable and comes recommend. If I'm forced by the edge of a sharp sword to offer up some kind of point system for the band's latest release, "Bullet For Birthday" gets an A. That's as good a place as any to wrap this post up...


*It appears on this album and I actually like Rockstar Frame's version of the song more than the original! 
**"The "Clair de Lune" by Debussy serves as the inspiration to this song. It is played and reinterpreted by band member Ace Wave (keyboards)

Saturday Singles: Rockstar Frame-"Dark Necessities" (Red Hot Chili Peppers cover)

Rockstar Frame is a hard & heavy rock band from Italy that is fronted by lead singer Faith Blurry. I had high praise for the band's debut album "Rock 'N' Roll Mafia" and I expect more of the same when this group releases it's sophomore album, "Bullet For Birthday", in March. This hot new single is a choice cover of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' song "Dark Necessities" and it is all set to appear Rockstar Frame's forthcoming release. So far it is only available to view on YouTube*.

*Warning! The above video features quick flashing videos!!

Rockstar Frame-Rock 'n' Roll Mafia

Musicarchy Media
2015

Every bit as hotblooded and a hundred plus times as sexy as it's artwork suggests, "Rock 'n' Roll Mafia" is the soon to be released (to great fanfare and widespread joy no doubt!) debut LP from Rockstar Frame. It was not even a week ago (last Wednesday to be precise) that I first introduced you to this hot new hard & heavy rock band and their even hotter single, "She's Hot". That pulse-raising piece of rebel rock was just phase one of this band's plan for world conquest. Now this Milan five piece is back in black and ready to finish the war that they started with "She's Hot" and I for one welcome our new conquers with open arms and raised first! To paraphrase The Ramones "I'm all revved up and ready to go" and I've got this band's first studio release all but CRANKED up as loud as if can be in the background so that every living soul can experience the next evolutionary & revolutionary leap in female-fronted hard rock for themselves! Or at least all the living souls in my little corner of the world as they are the ones getting rocked and rolled all over by what some people have been calling the "New Guns N Roses with killer female vocals"! That's not entirely unfair as Rockstar Frame do strike a similar pose to Axl Rose and company. Well, later day Axl Rose and his pals (as in G 'N R "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II") as this Italian hard rock band also likes to utilize the winning combo that is screaming guitars and flashy keys! Still, Axl Rose comes across old and cranky when compared to Rockstar Frame's sultry lead singer Faith Blurry! A killer artist all her own, Faith has a set of pipes on her that can't be beat and her range is quite impressive (to say the least). There's a red hot fire burning deep down inside her that keeps the music of Rockstar Frame blazing! Faith Blurry could easily strike gold on her own as a singer so having someone this talented behind the mic gives this hard rock/heavy metal even more bite! There's also enough attitude in feisty front-lady Faith Blurry alone to make the Misfits' number "Attitude" sound like a silly love song! In other words she is the perfect weapon for these smooth criminals! But, let's take a step or two back as "Rock 'n' Roll Mafia" is actual the end of a journey that was first started back in 2012 by founding member and drummer extraordinaire Max Klein. At it's core,  Rockstar Frame is very much a tale of how one man's unfortunate accident would transform the lives of many in a truly healthy and positive way! The story begins with Rockstar Frame's Max Klein taking a nasty tumble down a cliff. That bit of misfortune left Max in a coma. While his loving and supportive family stayed by his bedside they played him rock music. As he lay unconscious Max soaked up all the good vibes that the music had to offer and when he eventually woke up he found that he was now inspired to create great music of his own! To that end the talented Max went out and recruited equally skilled musicians and with one thing leading to another we now find ourselves staring down the barrel of a gun named Rockstar Frame! That might be oversimplifying the whole history of this female-fronted heavy rock/hard rock band a wee bit, but just as Max believes that it was the rock music that his family played for him that helped to bring to him back around to the waking world I have to believe that it was more than just mere coincidence that these five musicians found each other. The music of "Rock 'n' Roll Mafia" suggests as much as this kind of band chemistry doesn't pop up everyday! As for the other key players involved? They would be guitarist Morris Steel, bass guitarist Andy Di Bella and keyboardist Ace Wave. Collectively these five good friends have turned a simple vision into a spectacular reality where eighties hard rock, blues rock and sleazy/pop metal are smoothed over by the sounds of heavy rock radio. It's a place where this band's colorful influences (from Guns 'N Roses to Aerosmith) are touched up and turned inside out in order to give all the dearly faithful something fun and catchy to scream and shout about! With it's electrifying material, "Rock 'n' Roll Mafia" is primal rock and roll from a one-time-in-a-million/billion hard and heavy act. Needless to say you are going to want this one for your own collection friends!

Rockstar Frame-"She's Hot" Single

Let's not mince words friends. What the word needs now is another killer female-fronted hard rock band. That's where Milan's Rockstar Frame comes in and let's all just stop what we are doing now, drop to our knees and thank the God of Rock that reigns supreme above for gifting us these gifted rockers! And now that we've paid proper homage to the Lord of all things Loud let us have a little talk about these crazy (wild child) rock n' rockers and why it is that this band's upcoming new album, "Rock 'n' Roll Mafia", might just be one of 2015's finest hard rock moments! They've been described as "New Guns N Roses with killer female vocals!" and their red hot music is as fierce and independent as their lead singer's fiery red hair is! They've won national contests in their home country and rocked the stage from one end of Italy to the other! And now they have given us a fantastic single in "She's Hot"! As you can see I've linked the single's official music video below and it is every bit as hot as the song's title! And the answer is a firm no! I'm not just talking about front-lady Faith Blurry when I say the video's red hot (even if she is a very lovely lead singer). Instead I'm talking about "She's Hot" as a total package deal. When you take this band as a whole a song like "She's Hot" has it all! The vocals offer a great deal of punch, but then again so does the music! Given the influences of Rockstar Frame that's not all that surprising. They range from the likes of Guns 'n' Roses and Aerosmith to more straight-forward and traditional classic rock, but what really makes this band special is the fact that there is even some classical music tossed into the equation! All told this band has the looks and the sound to take it as far as they want and with their full-length album reportedly every bit as good (if not more so!) as this rock-solid single there's no time like the present to be a fan of high-class hard rock! Stay tuned for more! 

PS: Bonus points awarded for the Motörhead shirt!