MICHAEL MONROE – Outerstellar

vote
7.5

• Bands:
  MICHAEL MONROE
• Duration: 00:43:52
• Available from: 02/20/2026
• Label:

• Silver Lining

Streaming not yet available

Coming from Finland – a land that is rarely associated with rock'n'roll but rather with various styles of extreme metal – the Hanoi Rocks Of Michael Monroesince the beginning of the 1980s, have inspired an impressive number of artists who have since been celebrated all over the world.
The merit lies not only in the distinct ability of the quintet to write songs capable of combining captivating melodies and memorable riffs, but also in a unique and winning image of which Michael Monroe, singer, harmonica player, saxophonist and leader of the group, became the spokesperson, combining the glam of the Mott The Hoople and the punk gods Dead Boys to American hard rock Cheap Tricks.
An irresistible aesthetic and sound, therefore, for those American groups who, from the first half of the Eighties (many, from Mötley Crüe to Guns N' Roses), redesigned the face of hard rock, transforming it from a bloody monolith son of the British giants all fuzz and muscles of the Seventies into a sparkling, captivating and profoundly American music, which also made aesthetics one of its strong points.
Yet, avoiding the usual rhetoric of the 'band that deserved more', it must be said that the splendid sixty-three-year-old Finn has never stopped embodying that idea of ​​brazen, elegant and dangerously fascinating rock that has always given lifeblood to the very concept of rock 'n' roll.

The new “Outerstellar”, Monroe's thirteenth studio album, comes with a cover reminiscent of that of her 2011 “Sensory Overdrive”, which depicted an open eye with a jeans zipper. This time the eye is wide open like that of a child, and describes well the enthusiasm that can be felt between the folds of its furrows.
In fact, it is the perfect album for those looking for rough and street rock'n'roll anthems or a concentration of raw energy, combining punk and hard rock solutions with more intimate and singer-songwriter ones. The opener “Rockin' Horse” is a perfect business card, an explosion of analogue guitars and tight rhythms with easy-to-remember melodies and the excellent “Horns And Halos” from 2013 immediately comes to mind, perhaps the Monroe album where the smell of the rehearsal room is most noticeable, in which the testimony of the interactions between the musicians leaves a fresh trace on the record too.
The band that accompanies him, now well-established for over a decade, sounds compact and inspired: the American on the guitars Steve Conte – already in New York Dolls – and English Rich Jones they intertwine captivating and biting riffs that run throughout the album. Behind the skins, Karl Rockfistin the past with Danziggives a direct and essential shot, while the bassist remains the one keeping the center of gravity steady Sami YaffaMonroe's colleague since the Hanoi Rocks days and faithful companion on all his solo albums.

Tracks like the glam anthem “Shinola” and the razor-sharp punk “Newtro Bombs” – perhaps the most exciting moment of the album, capable of recalling the Dead Boys of “Young, Loud And Snotty” – are short and rough at the right point, while “Black Cadillac”, “When the Apocalypse Comes” and “Disconnected”, all built on choruses to scream at the top of your lungs, recall the most rhythmic Bon Jovi of the 2000s, but with a better voice.
Most of the pieces move along this line: energetic songs, a great rhythm section and memorable bass lines (as in “Painless” and “Precious”), with vocal lines that allow a more 'American' and melodic flavor to emerge.
The acoustic parenthesis of “Glitter Dust” seems like a reflection on the life chosen by Monroe, slowing down the pace and showing the more reflective side of the album, while the final “One More Sunrise”, which extends for over seven minutes, leaves room for Monroe's distinctive sax for a song that goes from a Cinderella-style intro to epic and theatrical sections, where our interpretation reaches high levels, thanks also to a voice that doesn't seem to have aged a day since its golden days.

“Outerstellar” is not Michael Monroe's best solo episode – Jerusalem Slim's only album from 1992 or the iconic punk-rock'n'roll experiment of the same name with Demolition 23, again alongside Sami Yaffa, still compete for the prize today. However, although there are no compositions that clearly stand out from the others, or that make one cry out for a miracle, it is an album that keeps the average of its releases decidedly high, all of which are of an excellent level even if, it must be said, not very distant from each other on a stylistic level.
In an era in which rock stars are almost extinct, Michael Monroe proves that he belongs to the ranks of the most authentic ones, who have never lived on income but who have spent an entire life between stages and recording studios, inspiring generations of musicians who to define as talented is an understatement.
There are so many bands that crowded Sunset Boulevard in the 1980s that owe something to this musician and his lethal blend of decadent elegance and hedonistic street life: it still hasn't lost a gram of its strength today, and this “Outerstellar” is the clearest proof of this.