KILROY WAS HERE

As a fan of STYX have been delaying my review about "Kilroy Was Here", in my opinion the worst album in their career and the one that caused the disband of the group due to the fact that Dennis DeYoung was starting to get obsessed with theatrics, which later lead him to a career in Broadway.

But this is not a problem "per se", the fact is that in order to support a dubious concept, the music suffered and this collection of weak tracks was crowned by a 30 minutes video in which DeYoung as Kilroy, saves Rock & Roll from the terrible (laughable to be sincere) Dr. Righteous, leader of the Majority for Musical Morality, one of the most ridiculous films I have ever seen.

The opener is simply cheesy from start to end Mr. Roboto with almost comical lyrics, not even the excellent chorus can save the song, even John Panozzo's drums sound mechanical and lack of inspiration, maybe good for a musical but this is not real Rock & Roll by one of the most iconic USA bands.

Despite having Tommy Shaw as lead singer, "Cold War" is an anodyne song without head or feet, they try to Rock, but the addition of some weak rhythmic sections make his poor song even worst than it was at the start.

"Don't Let it End" is a simple but effective ballad with the signature of Dennis DeYoung, at least here they sound like STYX with excellent choirs and some interesting changes, a pretty song somehow similar to "Babe" but better.

At the start of "High Times" we can realize this is not a Rock album, but a musical for Broadway even the structure is prepared for some long legged girls to dance in the background, this is as weak as STYX can get...At least until now.

At least "Heavy Metal Poisoning" sounds like Rock, and JY'S voice helps, but the less than mediocre lyrics simply make me sick. One thing that this song has is good drumming by John Panozzo.

I can't define "Just Get Through This Night", apparently they try to experiment a bit, but when the vocals hit us, the effect is gone, some kind of soft adult contemporary ballad, boring to the extreme.

Not a the best song but "Double Life" is a STYX song with good chorus, interesting guitar and decent keyboards, I almost applauded when this track was playing,but the album doesn't end here and it's the turn for "Haven't We Been Here Before", a good catchy ballad by Tommy Shaw who proves that POP can be interesting, nothing spectacular but over the average.

The album ends with the reprise of "Don't Let it End" a good tribute to the founders of Rock, another decent song.

"Kilroy Was Here" marked the end of an era, STYX would never been able to sound as in the early days, at least not with Dennis DeYoung and Tommy Shaw together, except for "Caught in the Ac which was recorded during the Kilroy tour and the melancholic "Return to the Paradise".

After the tour each member took his own path for a long time, John Panozzo died, Chuck got sick and we have today a different band trying to rise from the ashes with Tommy Shaw and James Young as leaders.

If it wasn't for Mr Roboto, Cold War" and "High Times", I would had rated "Kilroy Was Here" with 3 stars, but this songs are so bad that don't allow me to go above 2 stars.

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