HoneyBombs – There Is An Elephant In The Room

HoneyBombs
There Is An Elephant In The Room
Label: Underground Symphony
Out: March 14^th, 2025
Playing time: 01:08:15

The Rock/Metal band HoneyBombs was founded in 2012 in the Italian capital Rome by guitarist Alex Rotten. There have been various line-up changes. Despite this, the band played several live shows. The debut album ‘Wet Girls And Other Funny Tales’ was released in 2017. As the title promises, the album contains mostly cheerful songs. The band received many positive reactions and reviews. But the band also had to cope with a few line-up changes afterwards. Apart from Alex Rotten, only singer Andrew Skid remains from the early days. After the coronavirus pandemic, HoneyBombs started work on their second album ‘There Is An Elephant In The Room’. The result has been available to listen to since March this year.

The album starts with the Hard Rock track ‘Living Among The Lies’. Right at the beginning you can enjoy the interplay between the two guitarists. The vocals take us into AOR realms. The refrain with polyphonic vocals invites you to sing along. ‘Astenich’ is in a similar vein but much faster. Here the band is driven by the drums. ‘Feels Like Heaven’ starts quietly with keyboards. But this is just the calm before the storm. Shortly afterwards, it continues at high speed. In ‘Hidden In Me’, Andrew Skid sings a little more raspily at times. But the singer shows just how versatile his voice is here. In addition to some darker, clear Rock vocals, he also soars to higher pitches. A great Rock anthem in which the singer is often accompanied by ‘his’ choir. The crowning glory is a great guitar solo. ‘Spit On You’ starts off quietly before fast guitar runs dominate later on. ‘Berserk’ then moves back into high-speed mode but is still very catchy.  ‘Ocean In A Drop’ is an instrumental interlude with acoustic or heavily distorted electric guitars and strings. The following ballad ‘Awareness Birth’ has a strong piano touch. Tapestries of strings accompany the fragile sounding vocals. Andrew Skid is supported here by a very high colouratura soprano. Unfortunately, the press release is silent on the name of the vocal partner. ‘Ascension’ is introduced by strings. After a quiet start, hard riffs can be heard. Another strong Rock anthem. Guitarist Alex Rotten also lets out some terrible screams here. ‘Insane’s Mind’ moves back into the melodic high-speed range. The guitar heavy ‘Falling Water’ is hardly inferior to this. Later it gets a little quieter for a short time. The drums and guitars also drive ‘Thanatophobia’. ‘Lothario Foppish’ is already Speed Metal, with sometimes very harsh, sometimes thrashy vocals. The hectic guitars at the end only reinforce this Thrash influence. I first had to convince myself that I was still listening to the same album. The guitars also gallop ahead on ‘Pavor Nocturnus’. The ballad ‘Antinomy’ begins with piano sounds and a chime. Later, the vocals are accompanied by synth strings. When the guitars kick in, we can enjoy a power ballad with a hymnic feel to round off the album.

‘There Is An Elephant In The Room’ is AOR and Melodic Hard Rock for long stretches. But towards the end it gets much heavier. Speed and Thrash Metal elements are incorporated into the songs. Only with the last song do we hear a mixture of ballad and AOR anthem again. A Melodic Metal album could hardly be more varied.

HoneyBombs – Berserk: https://youtu.be/H51em7oR89c?si=oxAoaMRCvpcqQNfC

Lineup:

Andrew Skid – Lead Vocals
Alex Rotten – Guitars, Screaming Vocals
Doctor Gain – Lead Guitars, Backing Vocals
Luke Vanilla – Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals
Dany Cool – Drums

Track list:

• Living Among The Lies
• Astenich
• Feels Like Heaven
• Hidden In Me
• Spit On You
• Berserk
• Ocean In A Drop
• Awareness Birth
• Ascension
• Insane’s Mind
• Falling Water
• Thanatophobia
• Lothario Foppish
• Pavor Nocturnus
• Antinomy