In the end of the 80's, the influences from Funk and Soul Music entered Rock and then Funk O' Metal was born. It carries the weight of Metal, but the Groove of Soul Music and Funk. It's not so easy to point to the band that started it, but names as LIVING COLOR and FAITH NO MORE are the best candidates. But in Hard Rock, many bands used the blend as well, and we can say that DOG EAT DOG does it as well, but "Brand New Breed" tends too far from the right point in many moments.

They are veterans, but for all those who don't know their work: it is based in a fusion between AEROSMITH and LED ZEPPELIN with something like RED HOT CHILLI PEPPERS used on their earlier works (before becoming famous with "Blood Sugar Death Magic"), in a way that can sound like a 70's Hard Rock band with Groove influences. Their music really is organic, filled with energy, but the balance between their musical elements isn't in the right point. It's not bad, but could be way better. On the live songs, the feeling is the same.

The sound quality is alright. It's clean in a way that everything can be understood without problems, but keeping an organic outfit that seems like they entered the studio, plug their instruments and played without any compromise. Sometimes, the album sounds like a jam that was recorded without the band noticing this fact. And on the live shots, the quality of the sound seems like the fan is inside a foggy pub with the band playing in the middle of many bottles of beer, but in a clear way.

On the studio songs, all sounds good, besides their musical blend seems unbalanced as noted above. But "XXV" (the Rap way of singing isn't fitting in a good way, but the guitars are amazing), "Vibe Cartel" (this one shows a fine touch of musical accessibility, with a very good chorus), "Lumpy Dog" (the saxophone parts are good, but the Reggae outfit doesn't fits on their musical work, so only the heavier parts are good) and "Emoji Baby" (the album's best moment, with the band's Hard Rock/Glam Metal side in evidence). The live unplugged versions for "Isms" (good silk melodies and fine vocals), "Rocky" (here things work in a very good way, because it seems like a frantic Rock 'n' Roll song, even with the acoustic approach) and "Lumpy Dog" (again the same problem: Reggae influences seem to not work on the band's music), and the live version for "XXV" (it works better on live version, even with this BEASTY BOYS' vocals) are good as well.

It seems that even veterans can have oscillations of quality on their work, and although "Brand New Breed" isn't presenting the best work from the band, it deserves a careful listening.