Mystica Girls- Gates Of Hell (2014)

Reviewed by Sebastian Kluth

In a male dominated metal world, an all-female heavy metal band from Mexico is still something that stands out and grabs my attention. In general, there are a couple of interesting all-female heavy metal bands from Latin America such as Highway. For a male reviewer, it’s important to talk about the music alone, and not the charming looks of these four lovely women. There is nothing to worry about here though, because the band didn’t just choose stunning cover artwork, but the forty minutes of music are actually quite energetic, entertaining, and joyous.

Musically, the band delivers grounded, mid-tempo heavy/power metal tracks that are all rather short. The band focuses on dark, sharp riffs as seen in “No More!”, but also come around with a few faster and lighter passages, such as the opening riff of “The Spirit Has Won”. What impresses me even more is the vivid rhythm section. The drum play is solid, but what really stands out on this album is the dominating bass guitar that shines in almost every song. Kathy Whitewolf is absolutely convincing on her instrument, and this band does her often-underutilized instrument some true heavy metal justice. It has been a while since I have heard such strong and pronounced bass guitar work on a record, and it’s probably due to this great instrumental work that four out of twelve tracks on Gates Of Hell are instrumentals. This is something that would usually bother me a bit with other bands, but the approach works very fluidly here.

The vocals sounded a little bit too dark, low, and reserved to me in the opening of “The Gates Of Hell”, but from then on, Chilean singer Monserrat Bustamante Laferte delivers an absolutely stunning performance. More than that, her vocals have a unique character and make her stand out in a crowded scene. I find it hard to compare her to anybody in particular, which is already a good sign. Her vocals are powerful and quite charismatic. The catchy, almost danceable and rhythmically-orientated potential hit single “The Boogie Biker”, with its slightly lascivious vocals, makes you nod your head, shake a leg and sing along. It’s not all poppy though, as the singer also performs the joyous power metal song “Tiny Blue Dot”, with its more demanding and varied sections quite brilliantly.

The band unites all of the aforementioned strengths on certain songs. A true album highlight is “The Conquest”, for example. It has a varied vocal performance with a lot of heart and soul, sharp riffs, a great solo, a tight drum performance, and incredibly dominating bass guitar play. This is maybe the track that presents this band best overall. The most unusual track here is the half ballad “Why Should We Need?”. In comparison to other genre bands’ entries, this song has guts and melody, and doesn’t sound watered down at all. The melodious vocals are performed with a lot of soul and are an absolute delight. Even in this song, the bass guitar absolutely rules, and is on the level with the melodic guitar play in the laid back solo. Along with “The Boogie Biker”, this is definitely the catchiest song on the album.

Despite the weaker opener, “The Gates Of Hell”, and the unspectacular closer, “Spooky Cookie”, Mystica Girls delivers only killer tracks in between, and will charm your pants off with heavy metal attitude, charismatic vocals, and great musicianship. The quartet from Mexico City that once started as a cover band deserves the attention of heavy metal fans thoughout the world. Give their second album a few spins and keep the band on your radar for future endeavors, such as the recording of a live DVD and a possible tour through Central and North America (and maybe even Europe and Japan) that are mentioned on Mystica Girl’s official Facebook page.

3.75 // 5

RockStrata - Notun Shader Khoje (2014)

Reviewed by Sebastian Kluth

RockStrata is one of Bangladesh’s first and most important metal bands, founded back in 1985. The heavy metal pioneers of their country released a legendary self-titled full length release back in 1990, featuring eleven songs inspired by melodic mid-tempo heavy metal with a well-struck balance in the form of smooth ballads on one side, and thrash- and speed-metal driven neck breakers on the other. The band more or less split up around 1992, and over the years three band members immigrated to the United States of America while the other two remained in Bangladesh. The band reunited in 2012 to play a few gigs, but thought that it didn’t have enough material to play appropriate full length shows. With the help of social media and modern technology, the band was able to write and record eleven new tracks. Guitars and drums were recorded in Minnesota, while the bass guitar and the vocals were recorded in Dhaka. The album itself was launched in Dhaka where the band members from abroad joined the event via webcam. Now, the Bangladeshi legends are back with eleven new tracks and almost an hour of music under the name ofNotun Shader Kohje, which means something like “Finding New Flavors”.

The surprising thing is that after all the time and changes, the new record doesn’t sound too different from the first. In fact, aside from the production getting better and including fewer heavy and long tracks, this album could have been released in 1992. Despite the unusual recording process, most of the chemistry from the late eighties and early nineties is still present among the five men in 2014. What we get to hear is mid-tempo heavy metal with an abundance of melodies and grounded vocals. The opener, “Ei Amar Jibondhara”, is a catchy, melodic, and positive old school heavy metal anthem that should please anybody who digs the genre. The addicting “Dui” is only slightly different because it has a darker and almost apocalyptic atmosphere, as well as a harsh main riff that sounds reminiscent of some death metal. This is maybe the best song on here.

On the lighter side of the album, the band offers a convincing power ballad called “Eituku Asha” that incorporates a melancholic feeling without sounding too sad. I’m less impressed by the weird “Ei Boshonte”. This track starts like a boring acoustic country ballad, but suddenly, noisy riffs kick in and the song heads for thrash metal territory. Later on, we get a strange break dominated by bass guitar riffs and a bridge with random sing-along parts. The track includes many ideas, but the different parts don’t fit together at all. This song could have been really innovative for RockStrata’s sound, but it doesn’t feel well thought out at all. Maybe this is also due to the unusual recording sessions, because all other tracks here sound much more coherent. I’d label this song as a failed experiment.

The problem with the rest of the album is that the music ends up sounding the same. There’s just too much filler material in the form of uninspired, mid tempo heavy metal songs. The band doesn’t explore any new sounds at all outside of the one failure, and there’s no single song here that stands out as a real hit. Most of the work here is not really atmospheric, catchy, or engaging. It’s all just “okay”. The songs are easy to listen to, but easy to forget. Even the hypnotizing “Oshanti”, with guest guitarist Ibrahim Ahmed Kamal from the Bengali heavy metal pioneer band Warfaze, isn’t impressive at all.

Historically and musically, RockStrata can’t catch up with its first album. Their debut release is absolutely essential. While it’s not a disaster at all, this second output is nevertheless mostly forgettable, and should only be purchased by faithful fans. Even though I really like the band’s first record and have followed the reunion with enthusiasm, I feel disappointment at this point. The titleFinding New Flavors doesn’t fit at all. Standing On The Same Old Ground would have been more appropriate. In the end, it’s still a good average heavy metal release but definitely nothing more.

2.75 // 5

Babymetal - Babymetal (2014)

Reviewed by Sebastian Kluth

Japan is a fascinating country that has always set new artistic and technological trends that travel around the whole world. While many people were surprised to hear about Babymetal, I think it’s a typically Japanese prime example for a newly constructed trend, made up by clever management. The Japanese tend to mix otherwise extreme or opposing elements (from a Western point of view), and Babymetal is such a thing. A clever management group put three more or less talented young female dancers and singers together that had already played together in popular idol groups Karen Girl’s and Sakura Gakuin at a very young age. None of the three girls really knew what metal music was when they were put together. The management decided to make them dance and sing along to a weird musical potpourri that mixes death, industrial, and power metal with electronic music such as dubstep, J-Pop passages, and occasional rap elements. The high pitched voices, childish lyrics, and school girl outfits are supposed to invoke a cute and innocent image. That’s why this genre is also called “kawaii metal”, which means “cute metal”. Personally, I don’t think that these girls look particularly cute, but more like average teenagers pimped up by hair stylists and make-up experts and put in fancy clothes. Babymetal might attract younger Asian audiences that are somewhere between ten and sixteen years old, a few curious addicts of Japanese culture and trends like me, those who have recently stumbled over this band due to viral social media marketing strategies and, sadly, people with pedophiliac tendencies and perverted thoughts.

The younger lookalikes Moametal and Yuimetal in this trio are mostly just there for performing weird dances (that make me think of drunken turkeys) and occasional background vocals, childish screams, and spoken word passages. Main singer Su-metal has a good melodic voice, but is not an outstanding performer either. With some more practice and perseverance, she could maybe one day become a successor of performers such as Hamada Mari. What really makes this colourful band stand out is the over-the-top fusion of opposing music genres.

Even though the debut record of this band is obviously artificially flavoured, one must admit that the songs on here are incredibly catchy, almost exaggeratedly diversified, and everything but boring. The almost instrumental opener, “Babymetal Death”, is inspired by bands such as Dark Tranquillity, Dimmu Borgir, and Slayer. “Ii ne!” sounds like a parody mixture of Crematory, Destiny’s Child, and Lil’ Kim; “Onedari Daisakusen” could be a weird fusion of Dir En Grey, Linkin Park, and the Spice Girls; “Catch Me If You Can” feels like a mixture of KoRn, Morbid Angel, and Pussycat Dolls; “Uki Uki Midnight” throws in some trendy Skrillex breaks; “Akumu No Rinbukyoku” reminds me of pseudo dark casting bands like Nu Pagadi; the slightly symphonic elements in “Headbanger!!” recall some Sound Horizon influences; and “Ijime, Dame, Zettai” could be a Sonata Arctica, Stratovarius, or X Japan song if the three female vocalists weren’t there. In fact, almost every track on here sounds like several artists or bands that we have probably all known or at least heard of before, but that few would have ever had the courage to mix on one record. Especially “Ii ne!” and “Uki Uki Midnight” still sound surprising and shocking after more than ten spins.

The most outstanding tracks from my point of view are the upbeat “Megitsune”, the weird and silly (but highly addicting) “Gimme Choco!”, and the power metal driven “Ijume, Dame, Zettai”. As much as I can’t stand popular and predictable marketing strategies put together by many music marketers, I must admit that this release is a sort of guilty pleasure. I don’t really want to like it, but I simply do, and the songs are definitely growing on me with each spin.

If you try this band out, be prepared to possibly end up adoring something you instinctively hated at first contact. No matter if you jump on the bandwagon or not, Babymetal’s self-titled debut release is already one of the most curious and memorable releases of the year. Check them out at your own risk.

3,75 // 5

Babymetal – Metal Resistance

December 14, 2016 in Reviews by Sebastian Kluth