Lovers Lane
In The Flesh

Burn Halo preview

| February 25, 2009

Burn Halo
Allstate Arena, Rosemont
Friday, February 27, 2009

burnhalo_kevinknight

I swear (by the moon and the stars and the sky), swear, swear, swear, that when I was plotting the angle of this “Stage Buzz” while listening to Burn Halo’s self-titled debut, I had no idea the group was opening for Avenged Sevenfold.

It’s only worth mentioning because Former 18 Visions frontman James Hart badly wants Burn Halo to sound like Avenged Sevenfold, and in fact, if that band was influenced more by, say, Seether or Nickelback than Iron Maiden and Pantera, he would have succeeded. It’s easy, and admittedly sometimes lazy, to tag one band a knockoff of another, but the similarities between Hart’s bands and Sevenfold must be mentioned. Both 18 Visions and Avenged Sevenfold emerged from the Orange Country, California scene and started as metalcore bands. Though Sevenfold didn’t release its debut, Sounding The Seventh Trumpet, until 2001 (whereas Visions had been around since the mid ’90s), that album – metalcore with bits of clean vocals and memorable melody – obviously had an impact on Hart and his bandmates, as a year later they incorporated a similar sound on Vanity. Avenged Sevenfold countered with the even more melodic Waking The Fallen in 2003, and Visions did the same with the following year’s Obsession, produced, oddly enough, by Mudrock, who also twiddled knobs on Waking The Fallen. Avenged Sevenfold picked up some buzz, got signed to a major label (Warner Bros.) and went straightahead metal on 2005’s City Of Evil. Epic, maybe eager to have its own Avenged Sevenfold, scooped up Visions, who also decided to dump “core” on its self-titled, major-label debut, released a year after City Of Evil.

The only difference between the two was 18 Visions’ lack of commercial success, which ultimately played into its breakup in ’07, the same year Avenged Sevenfold released a self-titled record. Avenged Sevenfold was more hard rock than heavy metal, experimented with strings and production gadgetry, and even flirted with pop country. Probably just a crazy coincidence that Hart’s new band also kicks out a couple fluffy pop country songs, too. Or that Hart often sounds just like Sevenfold’s M. Shadows. Or that A7X guitarist Synyster Gates appears on two songs, for that matter.

Avenged Sevenfold and Buckcherry co-headline this show.

— Trevor Fisher

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Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly

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Comments (3)

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  1. marlys hart says:

    you obviously haven’t seen them live

  2. Jessi says:

    Mrs. Hart you took the words right out of my mouth.
    I will go on to add to that, however, by asking “Mr. Fisher” if he has actually LISTENED to any of the three bands he mentions in this weak excuse for a “preview”.
    I believe the word preview would imply you actually mentioning the BURN HALO album more than three times, and possibly stating more about the MUSIC that is on said album instead of ranting about bands that you so very OBVIOUSLY know very LITTLE about.

    Even my five year old nephew can tell the difference between James Hart’s and M. Shadows’ voices. They are each distinctive, and very different. May I suggest visiting your doctor for an ear cleaning Mr. Fisher?

    Perhaps next time, if you are going to “preview” an album, try listening to it, instead of trying to cover your inadequacies as a journalist by spouting off about unrelated subject matter.
    Eighteen Visions is done and over.
    Burn Halo is the band you should have been writing about.
    And please, take my advice, go see them live. James Hart is one of the greatest frontmen of all time, and {along with Joey Cunha, Aaron Baylor and Allen Wheeler}, gives an extremely talented, energetic and excellent performance live.
    By the way a good journalist would have mentioned the fact that Daniel Adair of Nickelback, and Chris Chaney formerly of Jane’s Addiction, are also on the album, which will be available in stores March 31st.

  3. Lauren says:

    I think whoever wrote this review has a biased opinion on James and definately does need to see Burn Halo live. James sounds nothing like M. Shadows and they are amazing on and off stage! The first thing I said when Burn Halo was finished with their set was “WOW! They are one of the best live bands I have EVER seen!”

    I love James Hart and all of the members of Burn Halo. This was a terrible review!!!