Dangerdog Music Reviews :: © 1999 - 2025 Craig S Hartranft :: All Rights Reserved
No part of this this website, including design and music reviews,
may be reproduced in any form or by any means without
the prior written permission of the publisher.
CELEBRATING 18 YEARS!
- New Music Reviews
- |
- Archives
- |
- News
- |
- Submissions
- |
- About
- |
- |
New Music Reviews, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal, AOR, Alternative Rock, Alternative Metal
Recent Reviews
March 2025
- W.E.T.: Apex
- Alliance: Before Our Eyes
- Ginevra: Beyond Tomorrow
- Phil X & The Drills:
Pow! Right In The Kisser - IQ: Dominion
- Heart Line: Falling Heaven
- Gotthard: Stereo Crush
- Defender: Dying To Live
- Streetlight: Night Vision
February 2025
- Robin McAuley: Soulbound
- Perfect Plan: Heart Of A Lion
- Craig Brooks: Desolation Freeway
- Mantric Momentum: Alienized
- Pattern-Seeking Animals: Friend Of All Creatures
- Crazy Lixx: Thrill Of The Bite
- Ginger Evil: The Way It Burns
- Dream Theater: Parasomnia
- Tyran: Tyran's Oath
- Saber: Lost In Flames
January 2025
- Wildness: Avenger
- The Ferrymen: Iron Will
- Labyrinth: In The Vanishing Echoes Of Goodbye
- Bonfire: Higher Ground
- The Big Deal: Electrified
- Landfall: Wide Open Sky
December 2024
- After Lapse: Pathways
- Illusion Force: Halfana
- Powell-Payne: Voilá
November 2024
- Sunstorm: Restless Fight
- Storace: Crossfire
- Voodoo Circle: Hail To The King
- Lionville: Supernatural
- Starchaser: Into The Great Unkown
- Empires Of Eden: Guardians Of Time
- Lonerider: Down In The Dust
- Seventh Crystal: Entity
- Neal Morse & The Resonance: No Hill For A Climber
- Beardfish: Songs For Beating Hearts
- Impellitteri: War Machine
- Brothers Of Metal: Fimbulvinter
Project Mars: Don't Hold Back (EP)
Project Mars: Don't Hold Back (EP)
Modern (Melodic) Hard Rock
3.5/5.0
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Unsigned/Self-released
by Craig Hartranft, 08.29.2012
Project Mars is a four man hard rock outfit from Ottawa debuting their first EP, Don't Hold Back. Coming from Canada, it's hard not to make comparisons to that other more famous and prosperous band.
Project Mars: matching hats?
Alternatively, they could be compared to the great many modern, post-grunge, melodic hard rock bands traversing the world. By this perspective, with Don't Hold Back, there's nothing new under the sun. Nevertheless, Project Mars sound really good as a modern hard rock band. They effortlessly blend their heavier rock with melody and clever hooks as on Push'N, Right to Know, and Hey!. That latter song may remind you of that other Canadian band. But it still stands on its own merits and could be a perfect arena rocker.
While all the songs have that heavier hard rock side, the closing tunes Break Down (the Walls) and Don't Hold Back (a tribute to their former bassist who joined the army) crank it up even more, nearing a metal edge. The former I could pass on, but Don't Hold Back has some real groove amidst all the thunder.
Project Mars may not be bringing anything new to the table of modern hard rock, but what they do bring is solid and entertaining. Recommended.
Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.
TweetIn Short
Project Mars may not be bringing anything new to the table of modern hard rock, but what they do bring on Don't Hold Back is solid and entertaining.
Find A Review
Alphabetical Index
New & Notable
Here's a fun fact about Swiss legends, Gotthard: their last 16 releases, excepting their debut album, went to number one in their home country, making them one of Switzerland's most successful acts and ... [ Read More ]