OUTLOUD
“VIRTUAL HERO SOCIETY”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

8.5/10

Outloud are a hard rock/heavy metal band from Greece formed in 2007, releasing their debut album ‘We’ll Rock You To Hell And Back Again!’ in 2009. The band released their second album ‘Love Catastrophe’ in 2011 with their third effort ‘Let’s Get Serious’, a 2014 release. ‘Virtual Hero Society’ is the fourth album by Outloud and was released in 2018.

Featuring the infectiousness of the eighties hard rock party anthem style, Outloud deliver twelve songs over a catchy fifty minutes. Every song is littered with hooks and melodies that will bring smiles to your faces and have your feet (involuntarily) tapping along. The album comes to life with the AOR tinged ‘Fools’ Train’, a melodic opener that sets a mid tempo vibe as it struts its stuff. ‘My Promise’ explodes into life with some buzz style riffage and sets off on a bombastic barrage of raucous rhythms. The chorus break is catchy, sing a long able and one hundred percent infectious. This is anthemic party style hard rock straight out of the top drawer…which is exactly where ‘Virtual Heroes’, the albums lead single, comes from too. Oozing passion, power and a hard rocking rhythm that relentlessly thunders on, ‘Virtual Heroes’ is of a heavier nature than heard on previous album releases. Outloud have evolved and matured and are punching hard as the album moves swiftly on with the delightful ‘I Am The One’. AOR blended with the American style of hard rock, ‘I Am The One’ rumbles on at pace, one hundred percent infectious with a cracking sing a long style chorus.

Entering melodic power ballad territory, ‘Share My Dreams’ is a mellow meander of guitars, keyboards and soulful vocals. Time to raise those lighters high in the air and sway from side to side as ‘Share My Dreams’ ambles on to a conclusion. ‘World-Go-Round’ returns the album to its hard rock/AOR base feel. Outloud have mastered the ability to fuse these two genres together, and add a touch of fizz to make the songs that extra bit addictive. And talking of addictive, ‘We Got Tonite’ is a meaner sounding stomp and an instant like. With its heavier riffing and harder hitting rhythms, ‘We Got Tonite’ is an extremely addictive foot stomp. Lifting the atmosphere and rocking hard like it’s party time, ‘Borrowed Time’ is energetic and lively. Full of pace and bombast, ‘Borrowed Time’ is classic sounding eighties hard rock, the likes of Poison, Ratt and Cinderella offered in abundance. Outloud are a happy band and offer songs to make you happy…

…’Live With It’ one of the happiest and most infectious on offer. Heavy hitting, ‘Live With It’ is beefier than any other song on the album, keeping both feet firmly planted in the heavy rock genre. Get those heads nodding guys and gals, ‘Live With It’ deserves the appreciation. And so does the best song on offer, ‘…And I Tried’. Storming on at pace, ‘…And I Tried’ is a sparkling romp of hard rock riffage that is one hundred percent infectious and is just the best song the album has to offer. ‘…And I Tried’ is deserving of every accolade that it’s given. And now for something completely different! “barber shop quartet” ring a bell anyone? ‘Fallen Love’ sounds exactly like the barber shop quartets instrument free Acapella style, showcasing the vocal talents of everyone. A surprise twist in a rock album and a surprisingly good one at that. The album comes to a close as it began, rocking hard and punching harder. ‘Fight On!’ is high paced, high intensity, passion fuelled party rock that will leave you with a nodding head and tapping feet. A great end to a good album.

Overall, happy mood inducing, hard rocking party anthems aplenty, ‘Virtual Hero Society’ is a heavy hitting and punchy album of rock.

TRACKLIST

Fools’ Train
My Promise
Virtual Heroes
I Am The One
Share My Dreams
World-Go-Round
We Got Tonite
Borrowed Time
Live With It
…And I Tried
Fallen Love
Fight On!

http://outloud.rocks/
https://www.facebook.com/outloudtheband/

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