Psychotrip

LSD, nope not talking about the drug, I’m talking about the band called Love Stricken Demise. Consisting of the four members Nikki Mckibbin doing vocals, Billy Blair II playing the guitar as well as supporting vocals, Holly Wood playing bass, and on drums is Rico. On their facebook page they list themselves as being a rock band, well I wouldn’t say they are a modern rock band but more like a metal rock band from the late 80’s and early 90’s.
What I noticed first off in the songs on the album Psychotrip are Nikki Mckibbin’s vocals. She has a dirty, gritty, rough voice that has an edge to it that works very well with the beats and the lyrics. If Nikki Mckibbin’s voice had a different pitch, if it was softer or louder, clean and smooth, or any different than the way she sings for these songs then this album would have lost it’s appeal. It’s the rough sound of her voice that has given the songs their energy while the lyrics she sings have the emotion. As a side note and one that shocked me was learning that Nikki Mckibbin was one of the 3 final contestants on the first season of American Idol. If I had known that before listening to these songs I would have said that this album was put out because she was on that show more than it being based off her talents but I would have been wrong because she does have some actual talent.
The songs are full of the sound for metal rock that I like to hear. With instruments being played with enthusiasm, vocals that are strong and understandable, and a good deal of energy in the songs. For the most part the songs are pretty good and I couldn’t find much fault in them, but I did get a little tired of how some phrases were being repeated quite a bit. Especially with the song “Love and Hate” where by the end of the song I was left with trying to remember if there was any other lyrics in the song other than “Love and Hate”. My only real problem with this album is that there are only 4 tracks on it. It might be true that it’s better to leave them wanting more rather than overplay your stay but having too little of something good ends up being not enough.