You think that if you got some good classic Hard Rock riffs, an awesome lead guitar player and a vocalist that has that 'macho' attitude to his voice you necessarily have a winner Hard Rock album, right? Well after giving more than enough chances for the HUMANIMALS self-titled debut album to prove itself, it still failed to please me.

This album is trying really hard to be good at its own genre, but I think this effort makes the album sound too generic and therefore didn't stand out of the crowd or excited me at all. I wish that was the only non-positive thing I had to say about this album, but unfortunately it also has a few songs with lyrics that are so sexist that I cannot go on with my daily life without addressing them:

Let's also be honest and disclose my cards, I'm a feminist, proud of it too, (not the 'hairy' kind of  proud of it though ), so maybe if a guy would write this review these lyrics would make him giggle and/or chuckle because he doesn't need to live under the objectification of society towards women constantly, and maybe he'd think it's nothing harmful, "hey it's just music, good plain ol' fun heh?", but luckily I'm not a guy, and I think lyrics can have an effect on the listener, especially if that listener is a young boy learning how to look at and talk to women. Therefore, I think that in 2014 having your album open with the lyrics "Baybeh baybeh, where'd you get those thighs?" on the very first track of the album ("Fishnet Stockings") is totally the stone age definition of being innovative with your lyrics.
I mean, really? Is that kind of crap still part of the genre? Objectifying women to the point that you need to write an entire song about how you want to make sure she gets out of that skirt? If it was the only song with this attitude maybe I would let it go, but there's the "I Got the Six" (track 3) when being sung sounds like "I got the sex" and is meant to sound like that of course, and also has other outrageously annoying lyrics like: "When I'll get your number I know you will agree" date rape anybody? And I thought girls can make up their own mind nowadays...
And of course "Leave Your Boots On" (track 6) because a guy wanting a girl to not take off her boots when she's having sex is a subject totally worth writing a song about, excuse me readers, but these things make my blood boil.

A ray of hope? Yes, this album has it, the tracks: "Grains of Sand", "Alien Me", "Surrender", "Julia's Scissors". When the HUMANIMALS break the pattern of those corny classic hard rock riffs and the lyrics are not about how they wanna score chicks, they are actually interesting to listen to. It translates into more surprising song structures, better lyrics that actually tell a story that were well thought about and when that happens we get awesome sentences like: "drowning in the truth" on "Alien Me" (track 10) or "How many grains of sand can you hold in your hand, you can't stop 'em blowing blowing away" on "Grains of Sand" (track 9). The song "Surrender" (track 13), is the only ballad on the album, and perhaps if the HUMANIMALS would focus on writing more than one ballad per album it can give it a more balanced feel that is lacking.

I also couldn't help but feeling that the lead singer Neil Cooper is not singing with his "honest" voice, he is trying really hard to sound like the cool guys he probably worships from the genre while this voice doesn't sound like who he really is, I wish to hear him while he sings without any mannerism in his singing, I'm sure it'll make him sound much more credible and captivating.

Summing up this album, I give it a solid 5, I know it could be a lot better, the few good songs show great potential both in writing, composition and arrangements. But dear HUMANIMALS, for your next album, please cut the sexist crap, thanks...