I found this traditional metal album to have a fair bit of bite.
Its official - Lemmy wants to f**k you to death! Now I have your attention let me explain. The above refers to a song from the new Huntress album that was co-written by legendary Motorhead singer Lemmy Kilminster. Huntress is an American female fronted Metal band that's the vision of vocalist Jill Janus. She searched for years for the right musicians eventually releasing their debut 'Spell Eater' in 2011.
There is nothing subtle about this follow up with Huntress offering no nonsense, balls to the wall Heavy Metal from start to finish. 'Starbound Beast' cleverly mixes the sort of thrash guitar associated with early Metallica together with the galloping twin lead made famous by Maiden. There are other lesser influences and the band adds their own licks as well. Sitting astride all this in your face metal is Janus who has enough vocal guts to blister wallpaper. She proves she can roar with intensity during 'Blood Sisters' but shows that she's not one-dimensional with clean wailed approach in the likes of 'Spectra Spectral'. There's even some vocal effects used in 'Alpha Tauri'. Musically this has a pure, classic Heavy Metal sound even if the riffs themselves contain different influences. 'Destroy Your Life' sees Huntress galloping flat out adding some twin lead and the express pace also extends to 'Zenith'. Huntress takes things down a gear for 'Receiver' and 'I Want To Fuck You To Death' where there's some nice duelling guitar interspaced between the crunchier progressions. The title track also features a slow chug with some old school whining guitar.
I originally thought this was a good album but that there were much better examples around. I have come to realise it's actually a lot better record than I first thought, even if it's still not quite up there with the genre's very best. The axe work is frantic yet well played with some decent tunes particularly when in tandem. The vocals are performed with real fury and Janus is clearly the album's star. 'Starbound' sits at the heavier end of this magazine's range and is one for our Classic/Heavy Metal readers. If you like Doro and Kobra And The Lotus then this is for you. The recent albums from those two acts are slightly higher in terms of quality and class but this is still a worthy addition. I found this traditional metal album to have a fair bit of bite; check it out and see if this animal is to your taste too.
Dave Scott
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