Huntress - Starbound Beast |
Published July 17 2013
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Enter The Exosphere |
| Genre | Heavy Metal |
Jill Janus
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Vocals
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| Tracks | 10 |
Blake Meahl
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Guitar
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| Running time | 45 Min. |
Anthony Crocamo
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Guitar
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| Label | Napalm Records |
Ian Alden
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Bass
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| Release | 01 July 2013 |
Carl Wierzbicky
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Drums
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| Country | Germany |
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Keyboard
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| Producer | Zuess | ||
| Similar artists | --- | ||
It was just over one year ago that Huntress released their debut, Spell Eater. I've only heard snippets of that album, so when biting into their sophomore release Starbound Beast, I barely know what to expect from the Californian quintet.
It may be a bit exciting with a female vocalist, who also claims to be a witch, but the question is "Does it get better because of this?". The answer is of course negative, although I believe that they may draw some extra attention to themselves with this occult appearance. I also tend to ignore most of the lyrical concept when I listen to a brand new release.
What I hear is pretty decent somewhat traditional heavy metal leaning towards a little softer approach. Riffs and hooks accompany each other and Jill Janus' rather harsh voice pass the test without impressing me too much. Starbound Beast is rather varied with heavier and dark songs like the title track, faster approaches on Blood Sisters and Zenith, and catchier moments with Oracle and Spectra Spectral. Notable also is that no ballads are present, as one could expect on a pretty melodic release like this one.
Somehow the toughest part of this review is to figure out what rating I should put on Originality below. A female heavy metal singer is rather unusual in a broader aspect, not talking about those Nightwish and Edenbridge type of singers, yet Huntress' heavy metal is kind of ordinary and occasionally also seems forced and studio adjusted to serve a larger audience.
I miss those crushing and breaking moments and also those
killer songs that rip like lightning bolts from my audio system. This
record appeals to me moderately and eventually it mostly becomes a trip
to reach the end. Definitely not bad, yet nothing that will spin in
my house too many times. 5 chalices to the Americans for a decent effort.
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Performance
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Originality
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Production
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Vocals
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Songwriting
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5 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
5 |
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Summary
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5 chalices of 10 - Tobbe |
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