Confessions [Deluxe CD + DVD]

Confessions is an odd title for a Buckcherry album, as the Los Angeles rock & roll band has never held back any secrets. They've always been unapologetic for what they are: an old-fashioned hard rock group, living hard for good times in an era when good times are hard to find. Now on their sixth album -- moving from the Atlantic group to Century Media in the process -- the bandmembers aren't necessarily getting long in the tooth but they do lack the young, hungry energy that made their Guns N' Roses rips work. Now, they feel more at home whenever they cop the candied psychedelia of Stone Temple Pilots, emphasizing melody over riffs, and they do that a fair amount on Confessions, enough to keep the record relatively varied, certainly more than most Buckcherry records, which isn't to say that it covers a great deal of ground but it does indeed have light shade and a nice melodic bent that counters the slightly desperate rock & roll found elsewhere on the album. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine