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Metal/Prog Metal CD Reviews

Forever Slave Tales For Bad Girls Review by Gary Hill By now the whole epic metal band with female lead singer and lots of symphonic elements is becoming a cliché. There’s still a bit of mileage left in it but most of the originality has been sucked clean by steady repetition. So, this group has a definite disadvantage coming in here. They manage to create as sound that works quite well. There is definitely quite a bit of monolithic tendencies here, but it’s a real tribute to the group that the CD still manages to entertain. Don’t expect any new ground broken. This group is pretty generic, but they are also quite strong. The genre might be dying in terms of new ideas, but the recycled visions you find here are still just plain killer. This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2008 Volume 6 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review

D***head! The riff that opens this reminds me a lot of Godsmack, but they take it out into a killer epic metal jam that’s just plain scorching. There is an incendiary guitar solo later and the section that comes in after that borders on amazing in terms of its mood and motif.

Say Good-Bye A metal ballad approach that reminds me a bit of Queensryche starts this off. They move that out to a fiery metal jam, but then drop it way down for European epic metal verse. The metal segment returns for the chorus and when the come back out to a verse segment they keep it crunchy.

GothiX Girls In many ways this doesn’t differ a lot from the material we’ve heard to this point. That said, there is an ultra-heavy sounds to parts of this. We also get one of the coolest keyboard sounds on show here. There is also some rapping on the piece. All of this works together to create a sound that’s original and very tasty.

Pulse This is just a short keyboard based introduction to the next number

Kristin A.I.D.S. The things that keep this track from falling into a sea of similarity are the amazing vocal arrangement and some killer riffing. This is actually a standout track. Considering the fact that the general format hasn’t changed one iota that says a lot about how strong this really is.

Afterlife There is a dark gothic texture to the keyboard section that starts things off here. They fire out into some killer metal from there but drop it down further than anything else so far for the vocals. There is a definite symphonic feeling to this that carries on even when the crunch returns. They build this into a soaring epic type of number (not in terms of length, but definitely in terms of scope). It’s one of the highlights of the disc.

Our Story Here’s where the disc starts to lag from too much similarity. This one has some redeeming factors – especially a killer guitar solo, but overall everything is starting to sound the same.

Mar, No Te Vayas A rather pop rock like mid-section saves this from falling into a pure sea of mediocrity.

The Lovers We needed a change of pace and this melodic and beautiful ballad with it’s electronic meets symphonic arrangement is just what the doctor ordered to freshen things up a bit.

Larmes Et Roses A stark contrast to the track that came before, this is a screaming metal powerhouse based on a killer riff.

My Girl (She Loves Her) Here is a dichotomy of a song. This starts with a pretty mainstream metal approach, but then later becomes one of the most extreme excursions on show. It’s another highlight of the disc.

Gasoline This one is good, but by now it’s sort of “been there, done that.”

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