Musings: Extreme - Six

Hard rock/metal legends Extreme are back with their 6^th LP simply titled Six after a fifteen-year absence. The Boston quartet’s current lineup consists of Gary Cherone on lead vocals, Nuno Bettencourt on guitars, Pat Badger on bass, and Kevin Figueiredo on drums. The band’s previous albums have been more in the funk metal genre but this one feels more like a hard rock LP.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Extreme. I always admired and respected Cherone’s vocal abilities and Nuno’s guitar prowess, but their music has never fully resonated with me. Like many growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, I loved their hit “More Than Words”, but I personally enjoyed their first, self-titled album a lot more than their second, the more famous Pornograffitti which came out in 1990. Anyhow, I quickly lost interest in the band in the ‘90s and didn’t care for Cherone joining Van Halen as frontman back in 1998. Extreme went on hiatus from 1996 to 2004 and have supposedly been working on and off on Six since 2015. Fast forward to this past spring and seeing on Twitter that the boys were back with a new single, “Rise”, and it definitely piqued my curiosity. It’s fun sometimes to revisit a band that you haven’t listened to in decades to see/hear what they’re up to. After the second and third singles hit, I was all in. I really dug the band’s current sound and Six slowly became my most anticipated LP of the summer.

Six is twelve tracks of fantastic hard rock with all kinds of other music genres thrown in to surprisingly great results. The LP opens with the awesome “Rise” which features Nuno in top shape doing a Satriani-esque guitar solo for the ages. The next two singles follow, “#Rebel” and “Banshee”, both balls-to-the-wall bangers. The fourth single, “Other Side of the Rainbow”, is a really good ballad. I miss ballads! I get that they were part of the downfall of metal in the ‘90s, but when they’re done well, a nice ballad can be memorable. “Small Town Beautiful” is yet another terrific ballad with a little help from Nuno on vocals. “The Mask” is a catchy tune with double meaning evoking the pandemic. “Thicker than Blood” is a kick-ass track that’s got a futuristic vibe and also happens to be the name of Extreme’s current tour. A future single perhaps? “Save Me” has some clichés lyric-wise but is a fun song nonetheless with some cool guitar wizardry on Nuno’s part. “Hurricane” is an acoustic gem and one of the highlights of the LP which Nuno wrote for the loss of a close friend. He also shares vocal duties on it. “X Out” is quite possibly my favourite song on here with its synthwave-leaning melody reminiscent of Tangerine Dream’s “Love on a Real Train.” Next up is the superb summer-sounding “Beautiful Girls”, a fun tune that instantly puts you in a good mood akin to a Bob Marley song. I have a feeling die-hard Extreme fans aren’t gonna like this one as much as I do. “Here’s to the Losers” closes the set as an inspirational song of sorts, a great little tune that gets you humming along.

Don’t call it a comeback, they’ve been here for years! Extreme’s return with Six is a phenomenal record that’s surely their most commercial yet, but that’s not always a bad thing. For my part, it’s easily the album that I’ve enjoyed the most out of the band’s entire catalogue. It’s bound to stick to my Top Five albums of the year when the time comes to sort that out. Fans of Extreme will certainly enjoy this outing for the most part. Hard rock and soft metal fans are sure to find a lot to love here. Cherone’s vocals are in rare form and Nuno’s guitar skills remain jaw-dropping, backed by a solid rhythm section in Badger and Fig. Six is a perfect summer album to listen to at barbecues, parties, in your car with the windows down or with headphones on when you just want to hear old school rock done right. Play it loud!

Extreme’s Official Website: https://extreme-band.com/