Groove metal.
‘The Hottness’...a strange name; it conjures up either 80s hair metal or dodgy electro, in fact this band are neither (luckily) instead they are a pink/metal five piece from southern America producing tunes full of groove based guitars and with a vocal drawl; not at all dissimilar to Every Time I Die.
There seems to be a bit of a split in the record with the first half being heavier and more metal based and the second half being more melodic and poppy. The vocal croon on many of the tracks is all Keith Buckley and the dirty bass sound with melodic guitars is all too familiar. They also draw other comparisons though; the groove rock of Open Hand springs to mind on ’Blue Eyed’ and ‘Dearly Departed’ and Alexisonfire are immediately recognisable influences on ‘She’s A Riot’ and the hidden track because of the dual vocals and fast punk style guitar riffs. Occasionally though with tunes like ‘King Of Thieves’ they are in full on screamo territory; the melody is super poppy with a sing/scream/sing pattern in the vocals, bouncy drums and familiar chugga guitar riffs that are none too original, it is still catchy though for the most part.
The Every Time I Die comparison haunts this album a bit too much at times, especially for band that’s described as “unique with their approach to a watered down underground scene” on the promo material, the reality is that they’re walking in the shadow of some weighty competition for the crown of groove metal champions and with so many other bands also claiming that they are about to re-invigorate a dead scene, it’s like a scrum out there, with everyone vying for a piece of the action.
The tracks are all confidently and competently performed on “Stay Classy” and there are some nice touches; catchy sing along sections, decent riffs and powerful drumming, but billing themselves as unique whilst drawing so heavily on the scene leaders does irritate more than a bit. They really need to pull something special out of the bag if they stand a chance of outperforming them. Unfortunately at this moment in time, this record isn’t it.