Italy is a country I never usually associate with rock or metal music as like I stated before in previous reviews, I've always felt unsure about what they can really do. With the exception of some musicians and the Melodic Rock genre, the Italians have never really been good at making Heavy Metal records but what about the Hard Rock side of the spectrum? That's a whole new area to be explored in today's review with the band CAN OF SOUL.

Hailing from Milano in Italy, CAN OF SOUL's debut album "Hearreality" was released back in 2014 on Atomic Stuff Records so better late than never I suppose. The other genres they list on their Facebook page include Alternative, Metal and Lysergic and it's the last two which worry me but I'll listen to the music first before making any real judgements. Having listened to the first few songs already on this record, I can tell straight away that my doubts about it, having seen the genres listed on the band's Facebook page are not unfounded or false doubts as I do have a few little niggles to make about this album.

I'll start of course with the production which is the key ingredient for any rock or metal record as good production can make a great album but bad production can break it. Unfortunately though the production on this album is not what I'd call perfect as it's more semi-mediocre then completely bad as there are a couple of rare moments where the production sounds okay but overall, it doesn't really sound that well produced and you can really make that out in the way the music sounds and needless to say it's not got off to a good start.

I'm afraid things don't get any better as there are more things which irk me with this album. Because of the semi-mediocre production, the music really suffers as a result and that is apparent but even if the production was better, it's not something I'd really like as the guitars don't have that oomph that I usually expect with a Rock or Metal release. The same is said for the drums and the vocals with the latter being my main concern as the performance isn't what I'd call great but it's not the worst I've ever heard so I can't complain too much but as a whole, the vocal performance does put me off even more.

Bottom line, I found myself to be quite disappointed from the debut from CAN OF SOUL as usually a debut can make or break a band as a good release will help the band garner more followers if the first impressions are good but here it's the other way around as their debut is okay but if I'm honest, I have heard better from other bands and this is not something I'd re-listen to as for me, first impressions matter most which is not the case here unfortunately.