Nikki Sixx has, once again, looked outside of his day gig with Motley Crue and stretched his creative limits. This time it’s with his band Sixx A.M. whose new album is titled This is Gonna Hurt. The album is released separately from Nikki’s new book of photography, though he admits that many of the songs were inspirited by his Gothic, and at times, freaky photographs.

Joining Sixx on the album is James Michael on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, and DJ Ashba on lead guitar. The songs are well outside the Crue mindset as “Smile’ and “Sure Feels Right” are very mellow and very contemporary. “Help is On the Way” is a modern rocker meets Rolling Stones with a tad of Iggy Pop thrown in for good measure. The title tracks rocks hard, and if Sixx is capable of having a hit single these days then this one should be it. “Oh My God” is another great track on the album. Lyrically, songs like “Oh My God” and “Lies of the Beautiful People” show Nikki is very in tune with his emotions, as well as the world around him. Many of these songs are way too smart to be found on the typical Crue album.

This is Gonna Hurt is one of those albums that takes more than one listen to fully appreciate, as there is a lot of light and darkness to both the music and the lyrics, mostly darkness. Nikki is trying to fit into the modern musical world, but does not sell his soul to do so. He has not turned his back on his hard rock roots, making this a very interesting album.