It is supremely unfair that while I am listening and reviewing Awakefulsleep, the debut release from Chicago band The Hawthorne Effect, (John Jauch, Scott Fritz, Joe Babiak and Will Sprawls) my sore throat is preventing me from singing along to Viva,

Girl I hate to leave you but I gotta go,

Goodbye Blackwell Texas hello Mexico,

Drivin’ 85 all night but it’s still too slow…”

Viva is every rock song…well - ever…all mashed together into the ultimate ‘on the road’ anthem.  It could have been gimmicky, but the pounding drums and the cool guitar echo effect raise it to epic levels of awesome.

Yes, there are some slower tracks on Awakefulsleep but my favorites are definitely Viva and the other rock numbers Devil Don’t Care and Drunk Mistake.

The tracklist ends with Goodbye, a quiet little tune that slowly builds and flows into a nice rock number. Goodbye never gets quite as hard as I wanted (hey, the heart wants what it wants) but it does remake the power ballad formula in some innovative ways.

This is a solid effort for a debut album and I really like the layers, both instrumental and vocal in the songs.  Not only am I enjoying the album, but I’m also looking forward to hearing where they take their music in the future.

You all can download the track Drunk Mistake for free from soundcloud (link above in the demo track) and can preview three more songs from the album over on The Hawthorne Effect bandcamp page. Catch up with the band on their Reverbnation page or on Facebook.

You can also preview and/or purchase the entire album over on CD Baby.

Awakefulsleep releases today, July 10, 2012.  Snag a copy and rock your summer.

- Kit