Artist: Damone
Album: Roll the Dice
Record Label: None
Year: December 12th 2008

For those of you that know me well, you know I buy way too much music. For those of you that only kinda know me, you know I buy way, way too much music. Last year I bought about 75 albums and that was a slow year for me. What I’m saying is, I keep up with the bands I know and love. I try to support as many of them as I can because I understand how hard it is to support yourself as an artist and how much you really just want people to care about what you’re trying to say or do.

I didn’t know Damone had a new record until this week! Somehow a whole month passed, a month that I could have spent listening to some good old 80′s influenced rock and roll. I felt horrible. You see, Damone came into my life at the perfect time. Not only do they play my style of music almost to a T, I found them just as their sophomore record Out Here All Night hit the shelves courtesy of Island Records. I was in LA interning for The Militia Group. I was heading into my senior year of college and getting married a couple months later. I remember walking 3 miles to the Block at Orange to buy Damone’s album and it was worth every step. So obviously, topping Out Here All Night is a very tall order.

It’s safe to say they’ve come very close to achieving that goal. It’s not as instantly catchy as its predecessor, but what it may lack for in apparent energy it makes up for in experimentation and a display of songwriting chops I didn’t know the band had. When I say “experimentaion” I don’t mean changing the formula completely, just changing some of the variables. For instance, Vasquez sings the lead single “Talk of the Town”. It’s a helluva good song, but it’s Noelle’s vocals that separate Damone from the crowd. Does that mean I wish she sang it? Nope. I love it like it is.

The opening riff of “Roll the Dice” hooks me in like no Damone riff yet. I don’t know what it is about that song, but it makes me wish I could be in a crowd witnessing this song live. “Bored to Death” is catchy, riff based goodness with a huge chorus and gang vocals. “Obvious Things” is this reviewers favorite track and the slower, ballad-like song “The Most of It” is reminiscent of “Stabbed in the Heart”. Personally, I love it when the band slows down to take a breath every once in a while. “I Think You Know Me Better” makes me think that Damone really does know me better than they led on. This song is just what I want to hear from them, I could listen to songs like this for as long as they’re willing to write them for me. “You Could Be Mine” could be the next single.

The fact that Damone struck out on their own with this album shouldn’t scare fans of the bands previous work away. This is still the same band. The songs are catchy, the production is top notch. It just goes to show how incompetent big labels can be. But I’m willing to bet that Damone could care less about what label they’re on, they just want their music to be heard. It’s just too bad I can’t buy this album in a physical format.

If you like the 80′s, Motley Crue/Bon Jovi or old Damone then you might as well head over to Amazon and buy it. Something tells me you may have missed it.

Final verdict, 9/10