New album
Hard rock fireworks – Extreme inspire with “Six”
The US hard rockers Extreme are back powerfully. photo
© Jesse Lirola/earMUSIC/dpa
About 30 years ago, Extreme dominated the hit parades with the smug ballad “More Than Words”. Now the US hard rock band is back with their first studio album in 15 years.
It’s one of the great misconceptions in music history that Extreme are best known for their 1991 acoustic ballad More Than Words. It made the group world famous, was a number one hit in several countries and is still regularly played on the radio today. However, Extreme is a hard rock band that is one of the most accomplished representatives of the genre, both artistically and technically. The Boston quartet proves it on their stellar new album Six, their first in 15 years.
The hard rock hit “Rise” released as a single caused a sensation long before the album was released, because guitar virtuoso Nuno Bettencourt (56) walks in the footsteps of Eddie Van Halen in his sprawling solo and shows absolute tricks on the strings with his fingers. The music video for it went viral. Rolling Stone magazine called it a guitar solo “that restores belief in rock music”. And it’s far from the only thing on “Six”.
After the furious start, the hard rock fireworks continue with “#Rebel” and “Banshee”. And Bettencourt, who incidentally also earns his money as a member of pop star Rihanna’s concert band, never ceases to amaze with his ingenious fingerwork. What the native Portuguese does on the guitar, his congenial songwriting partner Gary Cherone does on the microphone. Known for his extravagant poses, the 61-year-old, who was briefly the lead singer with Van Halen in the late 1990s, is a vocal stunner.
Cherone can be hard and tender – and he has to be, because extremes pull out all the musical stops on “Six” like in their best times. In addition to rousing hard rock with a funk touch, they show their good feeling for melodic, sometimes also slightly melancholic songs with wonderful harmonies. Refrains like “Other Side Of The Rainbow” or “Small Town Beautiful” stick in your head right away. With “Beautiful Girls” there is even a summery pop song.
Is this really an album from 2023? Completed by bassist Pat Badger and drummer Kevin Figueiredo, Extreme turn time back to 1989 or 1990 on “Six”. Back then, the group counted thanks to unconventional, intelligent rock songs like “Kid Ego”, “Play With Me” or ” Get The Funk Out” was one of the hottest newcomers on the scene before grunge changed everything. On “Six” extremes sound just as powerful and exciting as they did back then. Hard to imagine a better hard rock album coming out this year.