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Hailey
Woodruff
LP
Hailey is a
progressive metal guitarist along with a singer and composer. Hailing from
SoCo, Pantera was her first influence from an early age. With extra influences
from Soilwork, Mudvayne, Nine Inch Nails and Tool, Hailey has released a
limited edition LP that features 9 tunes and runs 39 minutes. She gets the
album going with “Solace in a Nightmare.” The track begins a little slow, but
quickly gains speed with fast hitting drummers and raging guitars. The vocals
are a little eerie in places, but the range that she gives off is tremendous.
The track will captivate you and wanting you more. It is hard to hear the
lyrics from time to time, but for the most part it’s a solid track. “Cognizance”
is a hard track to get into. It rolls along with vocals that are hard to hear
because they are set so back in and are quiet at the same time. The music moves
over top of them in many ways and it just seems clogged up the track. The
guitar solo is the only positive that I hear in this tune. There is just a lot
going on. “Only One” is a much better track. You can hear the vocals a bit
better in this one while the music is solid. I love the guitar solo in this
one, but the transition from it really didn’t exist. It’s the longest track on
the release, but I didn’t hear anything she could have trimmed. It’s the best
track thus far on the record. “Black & Red” opens up slowly with simple
music and a soft spoken voice. Hailey’s voice truly gets to showcase what it
has in this track. They are still set in the background with an effect on them,
but with the lack of music around them for a lot of the tune it’s easy to hear
them. The shortest track on the album is a bit of a bore, but is offers up
amazing vocals. “Confession” provides an amazing intro with a great guitar solo
that is soon accompanied by a simple drum beat. The vocals sneak into the back
ground with their normal low key sound that is a little twisted by effects. The
track does offer up some solid music, but really doesn’t do it for me. It
doesn’t have me wanting to hit the repeat button. “Silenced” is more of the
same feel. The music changed up a bit as do the vocals, but the overall feel of
the track, how it is arranged doesn’t stray. The guitar solo again is fabulous
and the vocals sound phenomenal, when you can truly hear them. I think this
track will get more play than some of the others, because of the more aggressive
feel to it, but it sill isn’t something a lot of people will latch onto it. “Delinquent”
is a highly aggressive track with a mega-intro. The raging guitars get things
started while the drums and vocals follow suit. The drums hammer in this one
while the vocals are well, more vocal. This is a great track that I can see
doing some work. The tempo is fast and there are some exciting factors in the
track. It really works and works well. “Virus” is a slow track with a great
musical presents, but the vocals again just don’t do it for me. She offers up a
lovely voice, but the way they are set into the track as well as flows, just
doesn’t do it. The lyrics are well written once again and I love the guitars in
the track. “Floor of Deepest Walls” wraps up the album with another super slow
tune. This one shows off Hailey’s vocals once again and is top notch in that
aspect. The music is slow and dramatic as she adds some keys into the mix. The
lyrics, once you dig into them, will hit you hard. It ends the album on a high
note. Overall the album is okay. I feel that is lacks excitement for most of
the album. There are great moments with the guitars and a few with the vocals
as well, but a lot of the album those vocals are hard to hear. A little
different arrangement and placing the vocals more up front would help out
tremendously. They don’t all have to be like that though as there are a few
tracks that those style of vocals work pretty well. More variety would set this
album up better.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Tracks to Watch:
Silenced and Delinquent
Track List:
- Solace
in a Nightmare
- Cognizance
- Only
One
- Black
& Red
- Confession
- Silenced
- Delinquent
- Virus
- Floor
of Deepest Walls
Website (s): www.haileywoodruff.com
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