The self-titled by Keel finds the band finally overcoming their identity crisis and leaning more to the pop side of metal than the schizophrenic leanings of their previous work where they just couldn't decide if they wanted to rock or not. Apparently not, but at least the production matches the desired shift and the raw edges to the guitar and vocal production have been softened up and work to the better. Unfortunately though, with this shift toward full on pop-metal, the songwriting is key, and these guys just simply don't have any. They give it a good solid effort though, but Ron Keel's vocals just simply aren't up to snuff for this sound they are shooting for. Everything else is passable as far as that goes, but the band doesn't really have any strong hooks or vocals melodies that will keep drawing you in. Hard to be a pop-metal behemoth when you can't write hooks, and they just can't. A good example of this is the song "Cherry Lane," on here which is essentially the same as "Cherry Pie," that Warrant did later. The difference is one of these songs had a hook that record buyers latched onto. Wanna guess which one? They managed to sell a few albums over their career, but this will really only appeal to a very small percentage of people.
by Brooky1969
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