In the Live Room

If you like hearing live rock recordings but could do without the audience interrupting your favorite songs, Halestorm’s *In the Live Room* is ideal. First of all, these songs were recorded at Sear Sound Studios in NYC, so it’s a guarantee you’ll hear no crowd chatter. Secondly, the sound is really good—like audiophile good. If you close your eyes and crank the volume, it’s as if you’re getting a private Halestorm concert. Thirdly, these recordings let you hear how amazingly the band performs in a live setting. In the opening cut, “Love Bites (So Do I),” singer Lzzy Hale’s venomous snarl sounds as vicious as guitarist Joe Hottinger’s overdriven leads. The mellower, acoustic-based “Empire State of Mind” reveals an intimately vulnerable side of the band that leans less on the Evanescence template and more toward early-\'90s 4 Non Blondes, especially with Hale’s soulful, Linda Perry-esque wailing. The band returns to its post-grunge growling with the sinister and sultry “I Get Off” before closing with the drinking ballad “Here’s to Us.”