It's been 10 years since we reviewed their last album "To Your Death". They were heading in a more 80s metal direction then, and away from the retro-proto vibes, that found them lumped in with the other female-fronted stoner rock bands at the time. The opening track finds the guitar attacking with a more Judas Priest-minded aggression. In fact, the guitars do a better job of capturing this than Priest did on their last album. The mix is very raw, with the clunk of the bass sometimes rising over the drums. The second song is not as compelling as the opener. Christine Davis' voice sounds fine, just not as empassioned as we have heard from her. I can also hear a fair amount of Thin Lizzy in the guitar harmonies on this album.
"Demon's Night" lyrically does not flow as well for me. It's kind of dialed in and working off a sound they might be assured of but not as urgent as the first track which set the bar for this album. "Love of the World" finds them still good at what they do, what they do just seems to be lacking the intangible fire that marked their earlier work. This one has a more jammy feel, so some of you might be into that. "Mythmaker" has a more metallic attack with intricate guitar interplay. "Death Blade" holds fast to the 80s metal playbook, and rides the line between Dokken and the Scorpions. Which works for me.
There is more groove in the riffing of "Lake of Memory". This gives more room for the vocals to flow, making this one of the album's strongest songs. I'm not hard to please I just need things to have catchy dynamics and vocals that mean something, not much to ask. This song is moodier though, I would not go as far as saying it's darker. The last song leads off with vocals, bringing hope that the vocals will continue to have a greater purpose. There is an early 80s rock feel to the anthemic nature of this one. It kind of feels like what might have happened if the Cowboy Junkies had been a hair metal band. Overall I enjoyed this one though it's not their best work I would say it's on par with 'To Your Death" so I will give it an 8.5, as well. This album drops on March 7th on Cruz Del Sur Music.
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