by Derric Miller
by Hardrock Haven
A lead singer who can sing ANYTHING, and do it well. Mark Moss, has released a solo acoustic CD called One Last Day of Denial.
The CD keeps the quality on high. You can tell that Moss poured himself into each song. He didn't skimp lyrically just to make it rhyme, and he wrote songs that stay in your head after the last note fades away.
Give One Last Day of Denial a try. You won't regret it.
Moss plays guitar and sings, and wrote all of the tracks on One Last Day of Denial. The first track, "Feelin' High," brings you back to when all the grunge bands started getting on MTV's "Unplugged." The song is heavy, draped in attitude, and has a bit of an Alice in Chains groove to it, although Moss sings nothing like a grunge band. His voice is clean, warm, and can sing pretty much as high as he wants to. He shows off his range at times on the CD, but he's not a screamer. The CD ends with Moss belting out "Open your mind, you'll be okay. In fact you'll feel fine … In fact you'll feel high!" Damn fine start to this acoustic journey.
The next song is more of what you'd expect from an acoustic release. Songwriters have always been storytellers, and an acoustic setting is the best way to tell said story. This track is basically about life, how some are down and out and others are rich and give a whit for their fellow man. The message is true, though: "So much you may want to change. You can only change yourself."
Moss stays on the painful life story track in the next song, "Beaten Down." The soft guitar piece is accompanied by the tale of a woman who would rather continue living with abuse than leave, because after all, at least she's not alone. Depressing and great.
"Trapped Inside" goes back to a more upbeat song, sonically, but there isn't a lot of happy thoughts on this CD until he goes countryish and nuts on a later track. "Trapped Inside" allows Moss to show off his voice. In fact, an electric version of this song would be amazing, especially as he shouts out the chorus. The musicianship is strong throughout, but Moss's voice is the vocal point of every song.
Now, "Done is Done," shows a mature, balladeer facet of his songwriting skills. The bass end is heavy, moody, but this is probably the best vocal on the entire disk. To put it bluntly, only a professional could sing along to this song and hit all the notes. It almost harkens back to a Zeppelinish feel here, and the message is loud and clear: "You made the bed in which you lie; You chose that path … forgive me if I don't cry."
Just so you know Moss can crank out the bluesy stuff as well, he penned the hilarious "What Did I Say?" Now, this is straight blues riffs, he sort of talks some of the lines and then really puts an edge to his voice towards the end of the verses. In a bar, the patrons must go nuts seeing this one live. "I think I love you more than fishing. I think I love you more than my truck. I think we ought to run off together. I think I love you, how 'bout we...what - what did I say?"
Again, give One Last Day of Denial a try. You won't regret it.
