Sixx A.M. The Heroin Diares Release Date 08/21/2007 1.X-Mas 2. Van Nuys 3. Life Is Beautiful 4. Pray For Me 5. Tomorrow 6. Accidents Can Happen 7. Intermission 8. Dead Man's Ballet 9. Heart Failure 10. Girl With Golden Eyes 11. Courtesy Call 12. Permission 13. Life After Death Here is a first single release on YouTube Sixx:A.M. is a new band built around former Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx. Sixx wrote a book titled “The Heroin Diaries” (Amazon Link), and the album is actually a soundtrack which tightly follows the memoirs, with each track coinciding with a chapter from the book. Aside from Nikki, the lead singing and rhythm guitarist duties are handled by multi-platinum producer James Michael. Working with such artists as Motley Crue, Saliva, The Exies and the Scorpions, it is no surprise that the album is produced and mixed very well. The band also has a great musician in DJ Ashba. I personally had never heard of this guy before, but his first solo album, an instrumental ASHBA: Addiction to Friction earned 6 Best Guitar Player awards. After listening to this, the first thing I did was go online and find out where I can see these guys play. Here was a response I found from Nikki himself: We just formed the band. We didn’t plan on that. We didn’t plan on being on the radio, and at this point we’re really not planning on touring. I know we are planning on playing some television shows and maybe doing some intimate small stuff. There seems to be a lot of desire. It would have to be something quite spectacular. The idea of going out and playing clubs isn’t that exciting. It has to be more than that. There is more out there. With all these multi-media platforms and portals to creative stuff, it is very exciting. Opportunity, I’m sure will arise, and we’ll make a decision then. So, apparently the band has no plans of touring at this point, which is a real shame. Check out the first single, Life is Beautiful: Overall, as an album its very average, average not good. As a soundtrack, the lyrics become so much more powerful, pushing this album into the “good” level. The songs become moving and more meaningful. James Michael’s voice might not have the vocal range of some, but not to overuse the word, but it’s powerful. “Life is Beautiful” is clearly the best track, with all the essentials of a great song. I haven’t heard much radio play of this song which is a real shame. The rest of the album really bounces all over the place, fitting many different sounds to the many different chapters of the book. On one hand, this is a good thing, it keeps the listener off-balance, not knowing what to expect. On the other hand, some of these different sounds come off cheesy or done. “Pray For Me” sounds like it comes off the latest Killers release, with your typical staccato chords over super-monotone vocals. The ballads on the album are many, and similar. You must realize that this is not an album which tries to please the many. This is a brutally honest, exposing self-portrait painted by a man who almost died. Because of this, the songs may be bland in some sense, but retain their ability to move, as in “Tomorrow.” This, while not the best song, still moves the listener as Sixx describes how his past is catching up to him, how his bridges have been burned. “Dead Man’s Ballet” got bad reviews as a song, some comparing it to Meatloaf (who I think James produced). However, I really dig this song. This is one of the few songs on the album that ebbs and flows. It builds nicely into the chorus, then transitions well out of it. Oh well, say what you will, I liked the song. So, overall, this is definitely not the best song of the last year, but it’s worth a listen. I have read the book and it is outstanding, and together I bet they complement each other very nicely.