Ava Max, Heaven and Hell Album review
Having been teasing the album since her “Sweet But Pyscho” single blew up, the American singer has finally dropped the album. Split into two parts, unsurprisingly, heaven and hell, it’s obvious from opener “H.E.A.V.E.N” that you’re going to be taken on a ride through Euro inspired electro-pop.
Drawing further inspiration from the Britney Spears, Lady Gaga school of infectious pop bangers, Max certainly knows how to write a pop tune. “Kings & Queens” takes you back to the pop heydays of ABBA while “Naked” is pure pop raunch. Following that, you’d expect Max to switch up the raunch factor for “Tattoo” but that’s not the case and, to be honest, the first part of the album tends to fade into fairly safe electro-pop waters after the bouncing three opening tracks. Church bells herald the start of “Born To The Night” a ballad which, giving the sizzling opener, just epitomises where this track has headed.
Having petered into fairly safe pop waters, you hope that the second half of the album switches it back up and sees the pop favourite unleashing her darker side. Does it? Well, yes and no. Yes, lyrically, tracks like “Taken to Hell” and “Who’s Laughing Now?” and “Rumours” are certainly darker than the material on the first half of the record but, musically, things are still fairly safe. “So Am I” sees the album heading into the right direction but, it still all feels like you’ve heard it a million times before. “Salt” and hit single “Sweet But Psycho” bring up the rear of the album with the latter hit showing exactly what Ava Max is capable of.
An album of two moods, “Heaven & Hell” is a mixed bag. As demonstrated on tracks like “Kings & Queens”, “Naked” and “Sweet But Pyscho”, Ava Max shows that she is the kind of pop star that could light a rocket up the backside of the pop scene. Armed with these pure pop-bangers, it’s just a pity that “Heaven and Hell” doesn’t contain more because, it’s clear that, if she were to really unleash her dark side, this rising star of pop is more than capable of giving the big-hitters a run for their money.
You can read more about the album here: https://www.totalntertainment.com/music/ava-max-reveals-debut-album-heaven-hell/
Click HERE to stream/download the album.
