SIXX:A.M. – This Is Gonna Hurt

Sixx:A.M. was initially formed back in 2006 for the sole purpose of putting Nikki’s The Heroin Diaries: A Year In The Life Of A Shattered Rock Star to music. Nikki asked producer/songwriter James Michael and guitarist DJ Ashba to join him in forming a band that would put the idea into play. Sixx used the same band in making This Is Gonna Hurt — Michael produced, mixed, and engineered the release, not to mention carried duties on vocals, drums, keys, strings, and additional guitar.

Years of debauchery with drugs afforded the necessary first-hand knowledge and insights that only Sixx could provide for his book, making him an author that revealed his life to the world. It also provided loads of ammunition for future endeavors, including Live Is Beautiful — an album paralleling the book by putting his thoughts and words into music; a precursor to the making of This Is Gonna Hurt perhaps. There is an inherent quality attached to almost every musician who goes their separate way after forming or being part of one of the most formidable bands of its time, and the bottom line is that This Is Gonna Hurt is going to disappoint more fans than produce praise. Almost half of the songs will likely be considered too mellow for fans who would naturally be expecting something Crüe-esque by comparison. Sadly, many of the tracks come across as being nothing more than channels for storytelling or reminiscing. There is nothing on this release that attacks you with a purpose – and in the end, this album has more of an Easy Listening aspect to it than something hard or heavy in nature.

In all fairness, there can be something said for the first two tracks: the title track and “Lies Of The Beautiful People.” They have a bit of spark to them, but the vocals take away from any Hard or Heavy implication you may hope to find. For example, the title track would be much better if it weren’t for the word repetition that gets quite annoying in the process. The second track starts out with promise, but fades quickly because of the vocals. The next good track is #9, entitled “Oh My God,” which has this U2 thing going on, and that actually works wonders for this song. The vocals are actually on the money this time, and it might be the only track where DJ Ashba spreads his wings a little to finally let you hear some of the talent gone by the wayside for most of this album. This is the best song on the album by far. The closer “Skin” is one of those mellow tracks mentioned above; however, it is in a class by itself. The arrangement is nothing short of brilliant. The piano, vocals, drums, and strings are brilliantly orchestrated and make it the sleeper of the bunch.

This band is composed of very good, experienced musicians, however, the album doesn’t live up to its potential on many levels — the most important perhaps being the musicianship. DJ Ashba is practically non-existent and Sixx doesn’t do anything special at all — his playing is barely audible most times. Michael is the only one that really makes his presence felt because he does more or less everything else the other two don’t. Taking everything into account, you will have to take a chance for yourself if you are a Nikki Sixx fan or are curious enough to see what he did with this release… but just remember you have been forewarned.