Sugar Cones latest album Road Soda offers plenty of new wave, goth rock, and a few other genres and influences that they inject into their tension filled rock and roll. Each listen to this gem of a CD from this popular Rhode Island band will reveal something that went unnoticed the last time. There are many moving parts going on in terms of chord progressions, tempos, dynamics, tones and a whole lot more, often in just one song.
Opening cut “Spotlight” finds trio leader Malyssa Bellarosa slapping dark toned chords out of her six string electric. She also sings over that progression with a self-restrained power, only letting out enough of her girlish angst at a time, filling the song with drama. Beneath her higher registers are madwoman drummer Alyson Hammond, a skin pounder and a force to be reckoned with, hitting a lot of fills, keeping the current live and dangerous.
“Plastic Things” shows how well this trio gels in uptempo action. Bellarosa’s charging rhythm guitar work and her frenetic lead guitar chards lock into a perfect groove with Hammond and bass player Jeff Sullivan. This song is like a big, thick sandwich, packed with tasty meats, veggies, and spices. Bellarosa indicts the “plastic things” that we all need to learn to ignore, belting out her angsty concern about their ability to seduce with their simplicity.
“Close Your Eyes” finds Bellarosa playing some haunted lead guitar parts amongst her rhythmic sawing. Her powerful, ominous vocal soars over her mysterious guitar sounds and the propulsion of energy coming from this hard hitting rhythm section.
Bass player Jeff Sullivan pushes “Hex On Me” along with a muscular down tempo crawl. He anchors with a menacing tone, and the drum smacks around it keep it humming and chugging like an engine’s purr. Bellarosa continues to impact the listener with her thrusts of rhythmic swivel, a lot of chords that feel as impending as a pendulum swing. She ups the ante with a haunted vocal and a supernaturally good vocal sustain.
“Dark Side,” which could be one of this album’s main themes, is a running jump into high flying, freewheeling vocal lines. Bellarosa sings with the urgency of a woman on fire running to jump off the pier into cold water. One can feel all the energy carrying the song and the listener along to an unavoidable fate, especially when producer and guest player George Dussault sets the song alight with sparking electric guitar pyrotechniques.
“Bobby Dufresne” features Bellarosa playing one of this album’s feistiest lead guitar phrases. That guitar line hovers over a vigorous swagger from the rhythm section, a groove that tugs one in early on and leads them to the end.
Bellarosa unfurls a prettier melody line on “By My Side” before switching back to her guttural chord progression, a progression held up by a muscular, dynamic groove. This gives the song a three dimensional appeal. This trio knows how to keep it simple, avoid overplaying, but at the same time keep things in an interesting flux within their trademark sound. This trio could best be compared to early 1980s alternative rock bands that started out with an oldies rock and roll simplicity before they started expanding their sound on subsequent releases. The only difference is Sugar Cones are already expanding their sound within fewer releases.
Composed of snappy guitar chords and brief, sassy vocal eruptions, “Keep Walking” rocks right out before chilling into a mellow cool bridge. It’s the kind of shift that makes this album work as well as it does. Just when one hears the vocals, guitar, and rhythm section raising hell, they take a wide curving action into another, more low key form of expression. It doesn’t hurt that the chorus and chord progression are catchy as hell. Yet, it’s this trio’s trademark ability to shift gears into another mode of expression before gliding back into their edgy intro mode that keeps ears glued.
This disc’s most intriguing song might be “Ghost Dance.” Bellarosa’s cool, rock goddess sustains are almost chant like in their ability to conjure things up from the listener’s imagination. Low end guitar notes. Light, lilting lead vocals. A seductive groove. It alls comes together in one alluring sound before switching to a more assertive approach, vocal belting, ominous lead guitar phrasing, and a more raw, primitive take on the initial groove.
The aggressive “Try Your Luck,” an echo vocal sustain, cooing, with backing vocal makes a fine intro to close out track “The Game,” a racing, buoyant rocker Bellarosa, Sullivan, and Hammond leave us with. Its rough rider intro eventually shifts into a mellow pulp of groove, glorious rhythm guitar, and Bellarosa’s tortured emotion belt.
Sugar Cones have taken things up several notches since their previous CD. This new Road Soda album will surely help them enlarge their audience and increase their visibility on the greater-Boston/New England music scene. They rock with frenetic grooves and rhythms, uniquely toned and powerful vocals, and with Bellarosa becoming more lead guitar-ish this time around, Sugar Cones have added extra depth, texture, and possibilities into their sound. Produced with George Dussault at his Galilee Productions studio in Cumberland, Rhode Island, Sugar Cones keep everything in motion with plenty of snap, crackle, and pop.
www.malyssabellarosa.com/sugarconesband
