The Boston quartet Pale Monsters, fronted by guitarist/songwriter Chris Mulvey, is an assemblage of longtime Beantown musicians who’ve struck up an unusually potent chemistry and possess a song-first sensibility that embraces working as a band rather than instrumental spotlights. There’s certainly some relatively tough-minded rock to be heard on Are You Feeling Alive? but there’s tremendous heart underlying these ten songs that come through in sometimes delightfully unexpected ways. These veteran musicians are coming together in a way that belies their years playing for the public – instead, there’s the same sort energy present in this recording we’re accustomed to hearing from young musicians recording for the first time and it’s wonderfully balanced with the seasoned results that only longtime top-notch writers and musicians can muster. Pale Monsters’ Are You Feeling Alive? crackles with depth and rowdy rock and roll spirit.