VOICES OF EXTREME (VOX) – Break The Silence

Mainstream Rock has certainly had its share of ups and downs over the past few years. If you listen to any AOR radio station these days you can hear a very wide array of musical styles and genres. It has become increasingly difficult to find a band which is groundbreaking or even overly creative. Voices Of Extreme (VOX) have tried to overcome that barrier which clutters the airwaves of Mainstream Rock music. However, the jury is still out whether they have succeeded or not.

VOX describe themselves as a Metal/Hard Rock band based in New York City. Their claim to fame is they are co-managed by legendary Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain. Break The Silence is the band’s second release and is stocked full of “radio friendly” songs to propel them up the charts.

Musically, the content of the album is concentrated around the powerful vocals of lead singer Don Chaffin. With Chaffin’s vocals being at the forefront of each track, the songs revolve around him with an abundance of heavy riffs and melodies. Chaffin’s vocals are a perfect fit for this style of music. He can easily capture passion and emotion on the slower ballads, and he can also wail and howl with the best of them on the heavier tracks.

What you are not going to hear is perfectly precision tuned Melodic Rock. This music was meant to be played live and loud. Even with the fuzzy production, the album sounds like it could have easily been recorded live on stage. You are also not going to hear a lot of intricate guitar solos as guitarist Rob Katrihk definitely comes from the school of heavy power chords.

Materially, Break The Silence will probably remind you of some of the classic post-Grunge Hard Rock sounds from the mid to late 90s. Artists like Godsmack, Creed, and Fuel definitely have had some creative influences on this band. Additionally, at least half of the eleven tracks could be played in regular rotation on Rock radio. The quintessential single from the album is the track “Tell Me What It Takes.” This is the type of song, which if heard randomly not knowing who the artist is; you would think a more popular artist was performing. Hopefully, it doesn’t turn out to be a “one hit wonder” for VOX.

There are not many risks musically on this album. Each track averages around 3½ minutes long, which makes for a fairly quick listen. There are no signs of questionable lyrical content or profanity of any kind. For all intent and purposes, it is a fairly straight laced Rock album. It is also very ideal for playing at high volume in your car with the windows rolled down. It’s definitely worth checking out if you are looking for something simple, loud, and hard rockin’.