Review Summary: A solid hard rock album, that benefits from all of it's members trademarks
Projected, is a surprisingly unknown hard rock supergroup, which has members from Sevendust (John and Vinnie) Alter Bridge/Creed (Scott Creed) and Eric Friedman from the split up rock band Submersed. The album's music simply aims for the sweet spot of late 90s to early 00's hard rock with metal touches and as it stands the album provides everything you'd hope it would.
The intro track, simply titled intro, starts off the album it sounds nothing like you think it would, very simple yet effective guitar work and a lack of drums had me for an eternity wondering how the next track will turn out, it kept me engaged until directly after signature Sevendust guitar work blasts into my ears and had created a massive and effective shift in tone and pace, which was a big surprise. The first track 'HELLo' is as really as fun sounding and decently written as fans of Sevendust would hope it to be, it's not groundbreaking, none of the material on this album breaks any new ground, but it perfects a sound that so many other artists seem to have trouble replicating anymore. The song itself also really follows the typical 'Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge Chorus' formula, but proves to effectively use this without sounding boring.
The next song 'Watch It Burn' starts off on a different note, going for a soft and choppy sound before the riffs begin to take to the Chorus, it also follows the same formula as the first song, but has enough of a difference in sound to make it sound to stop it from sounding too much like the first track and the same goes for the 2nd track after the intro which includes a short but sweet guitar solo which makes the song stand out more against the rest, it also has much more convincing vocals from John, who manages to get better throughout the album.
As the 4th full length track comes in 'Bring You Back', the band goes a little heavier without causing too much of a shift in tone, allowing for a highlight of the album and one of the most surprising tracks on the album, still with signature guitar work and decent (but unremarkable) drumming from Scott
The next 2 tracks '12804 and 'Alive' are more anthem based hard rock tracks that are slightly softer, but quite well done and placed, right as I thought the album was starting to become repetitive the band changes the direction enough to make it still feel similar but ultimately stop the repetition from sinking in, 'Alive' is another highlight of the album, with a great hook and well done guitar work, it felt like the best parts of it's members pulled into one song.
Since the next 3 songs follow the same pattern as the first few and nothing really stands out, it was the last song 'Breaking Me' that really surprised me. It is the heaviest song on the album and includes a much more raw vocal performance with screams being used in a small but impactful amount, it is definitely the last standout track from the album and sounds like something from a newer Sevendust album.
As it stands Projected are a talented band, as should be expected and this debut album 'Human' is a great starting point for people who have never really been into hard rock music as well as being a decent listen for enthusiasts, but most of all, it's a brilliant returning point for the members to top their own first release. It may not be as good as Sevendust to some people, but there's no doubt that Projected are a band that are simply around to have fun recording music they love.
Sorry for any mistakes in this review, it is only my 3rd review and one that I was thought would be easy and informative
