Pretty Maids - Planet Panic

*=Staff's pick	Virtual Brutality* Playing God* The One Who Never Lived Face Of My Enemy* Not What You Think Natural High Who's Gonna Change The World* Worthless One Way To Rock Enter Forevermore

Genre	Heavy Metal	Ronnie Atkins	Vocals
Tracks	10	Ken Hammer	Guitar
Runningtime	48 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Massacre Records	Alan Delong	Bass
Release	13 May 2002	Phil Moorhead	Drums
Country	Denmark	Alan Owens	Keyboards
Similar artists	---

The Danes in Pretty Maids don't seem to wanna throw in the towel just yet although they've been on the metal scene for over two decades already. I'm not saying that they should quit either but perhaps the more glorious days of the band begin to be over. Planet Panic is heavier and a bit darker than the previous Carpe Diem but that doesn't make it even nearly as good. This is very sad for me to actually put in print because Pretty Maids is one of those classic bands and was one of my absolute favourites once the wonderful world of metal was introduced to me.

On this release the band has added some effects to their sound mainly regarding the vocals. The more dark and heavy guitars are supported by lyrics concerning current topics like terror and religion but also personal issues and love. The highlights here I must say are quite few but on the other hand those and Ronnies as usual excellent vocals save the album from being downright bad.

The opener Virtual Brutality is quite interesting with its above mentioned vocal effects and on uptempo tracks like Playing God and Who's Gonna Change we get a glimpse of the old Pretty Maids and their abilities in that department. The more heavy tracks He Who Never Lived and Face of my Enemy are also quite allright together with some decent melodies but there it ends. The cover of Sammy Hagars One Way to Rock is perhaps a nice tribute to the man but that's a track I usually skip.

Overall I think the band doesn't at all take advantage of their previously shown almost immense potential, which I truly hope they still possess. The songs are a bit too simple and too much chorus based and I don't really like the dark and somewhat gloomy atmosphere of the album either.

So unfortunately it seems (at least for the time being) like the band suffers from unimaginative compositions and that killers in the veins of Red Hot and Heavy or the legandary Future World feel more distant than ever. The die hard fans will of course be very satisfied with what's on display this time but I must say I had wished for so much more.

The album goes by without making the slightest impression and "boring" and "vacant" are words that come to mind. A release that I'm definitely gonna lay my hands on though when it comes to this band is their upcoming live album, Alive at Last, due for an early May release. That should be really interesting and I hope that Pretty Maids get their act together so that Planet Panic in the future will be considered as just a temporarily setback.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
8,5	8,5	4,5

Summary
5,5 chalices of 10 - Mat