Posted: April 5th, 2009
Contributed By: Nick

	Purchase @ Amazon.com Release Date: March 31st, 2009 via Rawkhead Records/ILG
	Burn Halo is: James Hart (Vocals) Joey Cunha (Guitar) Allen Wheeler (Guitar) Aaron Baylor (Bass) Timmy Russell (Drums)

Overview: When James Hart’s former band Eighteen Visions disbanded in April 2007, Hart wasted no time getting the ball rolling on his next endeavor. Hart teamed up with producer/songwriter Zac Maloy, best known as front-man for The Nixons, and began cranking out new tunes. Once the initial blueprints were drawn, Nickelback’s drummer extraordinaire Daniel Adair was tapped to jump behind the kit and throw down beats to the duo’s songs. Also contributing to the sessions were former Jane’s Addiction and studio bassist Chris Cheney as well as guitarist Neil Tiemann, current touring guitarist for David Cook. Island/Def Jam decided it wanted a piece of the action, inking James Hart to a deal and allowing him to piece together a new band for his project, branded Burn Halo. With everything ready to go in mid-2008, Island/Def Jam jettisoned Burn Halo, stranding Hart and his team. However band manager Bret Bair decided to man up and created his own imprint label Rawkhead Records (through Warner Music Group) to release Burn Halo’s debut. On March 31, Burn Halo’s eponymous rookie effort hits stores. Call and request “Dirty Little Girl” at your local rock station and look for Burn Halo on tour with Escape the Fate and Black Tide now.

The Good: ‘Burn Halo‘ thrives with a southern, cowboy-influenced charm that can be as debonair as John Wayne or as wild ‘n crazy as Billy the Kid. Leadoff track and first single “Dirty Little Girl” is as sassy and raunchy as its namesake, a sinfully catchy tune that’s almost too feisty to tame. The driving “Save Me” is a rugged song that explodes with color, especially from its bridge to the very end. “Here With Me” would be a perfect addition to your 2009 spring break roadtrip mix CD’s, as the track is summery, bouncy, and oh so revitalizing. Tender and charming is the suit “Too Late to Tell You Now” wears, where wishful verses, soaring choruses, and the use of string arrangements in both verse two and the finale add a multitude of layers to the tune’s outfit. Puddle of Mudd wish they could claim “So Addicted”, a pulsating punch whose lead guitar part is its selling point. “Dead End Roads and Lost Highways” is equal parts sleazy and grungy, a thunderous kick to galvanize the album’s halfway point. Raise your glass to the sparkling “Saloon Song” in a toast to its carefree and effervescent persona. The hustling and gritty “Our House” sees Burn Halo assertively firing away during a three and a half minute shootout where they never seem to run out of bullets. Passionate and loaded with conviction, James Hart lets us take a peek at his most vulnerable self on “Fallin’ Faster”. “Anejo” is straight up rollicking and energized, where Daniel Adair’s “four on the floor” drumwork in the pre-chorus adds meat to the song’s bones. The honesty of “Back to the Start” is outweighed only by its sultriness, thanks to a Flamenco guitar that shows up at its bridge and hangs around to make you smile. The album closes with “Gasoline”, a simple, tasteful slice of humble rock ‘n roll pie. The final 95 seconds of “Gasoline” are jammed out on acoustic guitar in raw, stripped down fashion by James Hart and gang, as they reinforce the “I’m burnin’ down, down” hook of “Gasoline” in the same vein as “Jane Says” was recorded.

The Bad: Perhaps Burn Halo should have stayed true to their name, because the only thing I want to do during the group’s angelic, ballad-type songs is torch them. Not only are the mid-tempo and slower songs musically pedestrian, but James Hart’s voice just wasn’t meant to be romantic and caressing. As Hart croons through tracks like “Here With Me” and “Fallin’ Faster”, you can’t help but wince. While we’re discussing the ballads of ‘Burn Halo‘, “Saloon Song” sounds like it was cut from the same mold as Daughtry’s “Used To” and also bears a heavy resemblance to its brother “Here With Me” that hits four tracks earlier. “Back to the Start”, although the most original tune on the record, uses an opening acoustic guitar pattern that borrows part of the riff from Silverchair’s “Shade”. There’s not too much else to really nitpick on ‘Burn Halo‘, nor is there really reason for this album to receive any great fanfare. Sure, Hart’s songs have their strong points, but overall this twelve track affair amounts to nothing more than a middle-of-the-road rock album that relies on its southern twang for added depth. Sadly, there’s just too many gaps on ‘Burn Halo‘ and not enough quirks to plug the holes.

Bottomline: As a longtime Eighteen Visions fan, I had high hopes for James Hart and Burn Halo who have no doubt let me down. I was even more excited to hear Burn Halo’s debut because I’ve recently turned a corner regarding my thoughts on Zac Maloy’s work after David Cook’s “Life On the Moon” came into my life. Unfortunately, Maloy and the rest of the incredible tandem of musicians Hart enlisted to help drive this bus do nothing more than steer it down dead end roads and lost highways.

TuneLab Rating: 5.5 out of 10