Pretty Maids - Louder Than Ever

Published March 16 2014

*=Staff's pick	Deranged (New song) Playing God* Psycho Time Bomb Planet Earth My Soul To Take (New song) He Who Never Lived Virtual Brutality Tortured Spirit With These Eyes* Nuclear Boomerang (New song) Snakes In Eden Wake Up To The New World A Heart Without A Home (New song)

Genre	Heavy Metal/Hard Rock	Ronnie Atkins	Vocals
Tracks	12	Ken Hammer	Guitar
Running time	54 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Frontiers Records	Rene Shades	Bass
Release	21 March 2014	Allan Tchicaja	Drums
Country	Denmark	Morten Sandager	Keyboard
Producer	Jacob Hansen
Similar artists	---

In the space of two proper full length records, Danish long-time running outfit Pretty Maids has decided to release an album comprising four brand new songs and also eight re-worked ones. The latter are mainly from the last half of the band's career, now under the band's new producer Jacob Hansen's watch and also with three different bandmembers performing beside iron men, vocalist Ronnie Atkins and guitarist Ken Hammer.

I face a double-edged sword when I have a look at the re-worked stuff, which fills two thirds of this release. One side tells me that the new and upgraded sound truly does magical things to the songs, but still originality and first impressions are cases that's tough to beat and I really don't know which foot to balance my weight on. A song like Virtual Brutality has lost pieces of its rawness, intensity and heavy approach, whilst Tortured Spirit feels regenerated and up to date and With These Eyes feels passionate and fresh. I could go on with all tracks, but I suggest that you just check out this matter yourself, because this is definitely up to each his own to decide what's good and what's not.

With solely four new songs, all in the fixed Pretty Maids vein, perhaps an EP could have done the job. Deranged and Nuclear Boomerang are heavier and faster tracks, typical to what they have produced earlier. My Soul To Take is a semi-ballad, which sort of seems like it has been written before. Finally we of course also have a true ballad with A Heart Without A Home, which is a song that has its moments, yet my emotions stay pretty cold to this one. I can't deny that the three first mentioned songs are good, but still I look forward to the band's next record to see if they are able to challenge their past.

See also review of: Kingmaker , Motherland , Pandemonium , Wake Up To The Real World , Planet Panic , Future World

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	5	7	7	6

Summary
6 chalices of 10 - Tobbe