Release date: 08.11.2019
Label: Frontiers Music Srl.
Production: Jacob Hansen
Album length: 43.19 min
Genre: Hard Rock / Heavy Metal
Rating: 9.5 / 10
Pretty Maids, the legendary Danish rockers, have stretched their newfound (late) spring over yet another album. Let’s just call it what it is: a fresh rejuvenation that has been running ever since “Pandemonium” (2010). The albums come out at three-year intervals, and that’s obviously long enough for the band to polish its ideas to the required level of perfectionist beat (properly finished songs). Considering the upheavals that have followed the band lately, from Ronnie Atkins’ unfortunate injury on one of the stages, which got an entire tour postponed (and this summer another tour was cancelled), to the latest diagnosis that he caught lung cancer, you’d think it might show in the quality of the new material. But not with Pretty Maids. “Undress Your Madness” holds the exceptional quality of the last three predecessors and then some. It definitely delivers a bundle of (musically speaking) superbly polished tracks, and the realization that this is an album on which guitarist Ken Hammer has created a series of incredibly piercing, distinctly metallized, sharp-edged guitar phrases that crunch away from the opening of the album all the way to the end.
“Undress Your Madness” is, by the way, extremely well balanced. As for slowed-down tempos, there’s track no. 4, Will You Still Kiss Me (If I See You In Heaven), which, judging by the title alone, you can guess is a ballad-leaning number. It’s joined in energy by Strenghth Of A Rose at the tail end of the album, where a “Beatles-esque” touch sneaks into the opening phrase, along with a hint of acoustic arrangement tricks (a superb closer). The album does have plenty of possessed, dark moments, though. The opener Serpentine is “venomous” right away, the downright doomy title track pours oil on the fire, there’s another crushing haymaker in If You Want Peace (Prepeare For War), and the darkness swells in Slavedriver. The band surprises quite a bit with Firesoul Fly, a song that (rightly so) came out as a single, since this track is built on a major key (a real rarity in the band’s new era), and with it the band even gets close to its roots and its inspiration from the elements of classic rock’n’roll. There’s another “gem” on the album in Shadowlands, which is, let’s say, a “hidden” eighties pop hit. With completely different production, it would have raked in a whole lot of rustling greenbacks back in the eighties. Excellent verse-chorus pairing, perfect build-up of atmosphere, a crescendo in a thoroughly melodic chorus. You can feel that the band members know the eighties pop and AOR scenes very well, or rather, that they don’t limit themselves in music. If something’s good, it’s simply good. Shadowland has to come out as a hit single. It chases the catchiness of Little Drops of Heaven, only this is the new album and a new Pretty Maids story. Black Thunder is also “dressed up” perfectly: it develops in a very classic rock way, very traditional (the main riff), but as I said, it’s repackaged extremely well into the typical Pretty Maids recipe of recognizable trademarks from the band’s musical ID card.
The Atkins-Hammer duo remains the winning songwriting tandem. On this record, both musicians wanted to squeeze quite a bit of noise out of themselves (their “noise maximum”). Atkins is incredibly screamy and throaty, and this time that trademark vocal punch comes across as downright deadly at moments. It’s a hugely important factor in creating the dark atmosphere, which on the other hand is lifted by the album’s musical pomp. Ronnie has once again delivered an outstanding vocal show, and with guitar phrases that glare out of the production more than usual this time, the two musicians each develop, in their own light, the incredible charisma that has been the fundamental starting point of Pretty Maids’ character and work from the very beginning.
Frankly, and no beating around the bush: there’s not a single artistic stumble on this album. An excellent new studio effort from an incredibly seasoned and experienced band. It’s more than obvious that in another time and place, Atkins and Hammer could have made an excellent married couple. They’ve always had an exceptionally creative sense of each other and a knack for complementing one another. “Undress Your Madness” cashes in on that in full, and it’s truly amazing that, with the pile of crosses and troubles the band has been carrying lately, they managed to produce a truly top-notch record that grabs you from the first second to the very last. Fans of this band will be simply fascinated. Next to the excellent and unforgettable “Pandemonuim,” “Undress Your Madness” is surely the strongest release of this highly respected, long-lived band from Horsens, Denmark in the post-millennium era. Let’s just hope Atkins pulls through and Pretty Maids get back out on tour as soon as possible. “Undress Your Madness” deserves a proper stage presentation!
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Intro
2. Serpentine
3. Firesoul Fly
4. Undress Your Madness
5. Will You Still Kiss Me (If I See You In Heaven)
6. Runaway World
7. If You Want Peace (Prepare For War)
8. Slavedriver
9. Shadowlands
10. Black Thunder
11. Strength Of A Rose
Line-up:
Ronnie Atkins – vocals
Ken Hammer – guitar
Chris Laney – keyboards
Rene Shades – bass guitar
Allan Sørensen – drums
