Halestorm – Back From The Dead
I realised I have missed the last two months to let you know what my album of the month is and I will tell you why. For the past year, I have lost my confidence in my ability to run this website and my skills as a writer. Lots of people tell me I am great at what I do which is encouraging and lovely yet I still don’t believe it. Our mental health champion pointed out that I could be experiencing Imposter Syndrome and when reading the signs, it all makes perfect sense.
At the point of discovering I may well be experiencing Imposter Syndrome, I came across HALESTORM’s Back From The Dead. It had been released earlier this year yet I only came across it recently; I like to think it has come at a most crucial time of need. During the COVID lockdown where live music was ground to a halt, Lzzy Hale fell into a dark place and something of an identity crisis. This album is the story of her carving herself out of that abyss. Throughout this album you can hear that passion, determination and energy.
When I first heard this album, I was feeling low and this recent discovery of Imposter Syndrome was really eating me up. When I heard those lyrics “Back from the dead alive, Hell couldn’t hold me” along to that empowering melody in the opening track, part of me woke up and I felt alive. I felt I had a purpose and that I was valid. I know it’s cliché to say that this sets the tone for the rest of the album but with Back From The Dead, it really does.
Brightside contains that important message of having something to look toward as things are hard and Strange Girl is that anthem that teenage Lotty was after. The punchy tones in My Redemption gives me that much needed motivation through empowering lyrics such as “My heart can survive it, I’m stronger than this, They ain’t built a weapon that could kill me yet”. The ballads Terrible Things and Raise Your Horns also created a great impact.
Each song contains an important message which are all communicated through punchy tones and empowering lyrics. I am not afraid to say I cried when I first listened to this record, it was a release for all that self-doubt I had been feeling about myself.
Lzzy wrote this album to document a crucial time she went through when rising out of this abyss; it has come into my life when I needed that release from anguish and self-doubt. It’s a record I will keep listening to for a long time.
In Lzzy’s words “raise you horns, raise them high”; keep those words in mind when listening to this truly liberating record.
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