Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Pretty Maids
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2014
Running time: 52:22
Rating: 4.5/5
Danish melodic hard rock legends Pretty Maids, once again bursting with creative energy, have decided to make an album that mixes re-recorded tracks from their back catalog with brand-new songs, and the timing couldn’t be better. It’s a great way to fill the gap while we wait for the band’s next studio album, due next year.
After the superb »Pandemonium« (2010), a proper celebration of the band’s first 30 years with the new live album and DVD »It Comes Alive« (2012), and a stretch of highly inspired creativity that spilled onto their latest studio album »Motherland« (2013) – which didn’t quite manage to thrill as brilliantly as its predecessor »Pandemonium« – the band took exactly the right step to round things off by enjoying their creativity in a slightly different way. Pretty Maids took the time to dig through songs from their past studio albums. They picked a batch they’ve rarely played live. These are really somewhat forgotten gems from the band’s middle period, between 1994 (the album »Scream«) and 2006 (the album »Wake Up In The Real World«). They’ve been dressed in the modernized sonic outfit that defines the songwriting on the last two studio releases, and the arrangements have been stretched out and given more variety. Above all, the songs have gained a sharper contrast in the dialogue between keyboards and guitar phrases, which hold Atkinson’s trademark vocal stamp in a kind of »embrace«. He once again slaloms triumphantly between aggressive growl and sensitive, sensual seduction when he goes for clean vocals (Wake Up In The Real World). Ken Hammer didn’t forget to update the guitar solos either, and the wall of sound once again bursts at the seams with the sheer massive avalanche of his guitar phrases.
Even though the album is a collision of old and new, this record feels like a brand-new studio album, thanks to the unified production sound and the updated arrangements, which bring the older songs right up close to the current creative philosophy of Pretty Maids (the lineup of the new millennium). That also ties them together, sonically and stylistically, with the four completely new songs you’ll find on this release. As expected, one of those, Derranged, opens the album. It’s a typically aggressive blend of the raw power that new Prettty Maids are known for, with an outstanding melodic component that hits peak theatricality in a predatory chorus. As for the mid-tempo, also brand-new My Soul To Take, we can say it chases the confessional vibe of that excellent single from »Pandemonium«, Little Drops Of Heaven. In the second half we run into yet another thoroughly dynamic new track, this one driven by a dark, possessed attitude. That’s Nuclear Boomerang, for which the band has released a new video and single. With this one, Pretty Maids deliver one of the most aggressive songs on »Louder Than Ever«. Fitting, isn’t it? Right at the end comes the especially gripping ballad A Heart Without A Home, which effectively gives you a breather from the otherwise tremendous rawness of the rest of the album. A great ballad, without a pinch of sugary whininess. The older songs? They work brilliantly. Especially tracks like Wake Up In The Real World, Virtual Brutality or With These Eyes. It’s hard to pick favorites. Pretty Maids chose extremely strong songs (in terms of composition) for »Louder Than Ever«, and there are no dips in quality between them.
»Louder Than Ever« lives up to its title. Besides the huge, voluminous noise that comes with rock ‘n’ roll mixed according to the unique Pretty Maids recipe of the new millennium, this band is so damn experienced that for the refreshes they wanted, they simply used the songwriting formula from the albums »Pandemonium« and »Motherland«, so the idea for »Louder Than Ever« was actually realized almost effortlessly. Keyboardist Morten Santander played one of the central roles here, contributing a major share to the excellent mood upgrade of the refreshed songs of older vintage. And given how sharply defined the four new songs are, there’s no need to worry that Pretty Maids might somehow disappoint with their upcoming new proper studio album.
One last thought remains. A wish, really. Let’s hope that on their new European tour this May, Pretty Maids play »Louder Than Ever« in its entirety as part of the set. See you on 15.05.2014 with Pretty Maids live, when the band plays in Velden in Carinthia, Austria, at the Bluesiana Rock Cafe club.
Lineup
Ronnie Atkins – vocals
Ken Hammer – guitar
Morten Sandager – keyboards
Rene Shades – bass
Allan Tchicaja – drums
Production
Jakob Hansen
Track list
1. Deranged*
2. Playing God
3. Psycho Time Bomb Planet Earth
4. My Soul To Take*
5. He Who Never Lived
6. Virtual Brutality
7. Tortured Spirit
8. With These Eyes
9. Nuclear Boomerang*
10. Snakes In Eden
11. Wake Up To The Real World
12. A Heart Without A Home*
* … new songs
