Nowadays Traditoional Heavy Metal acts have the polished production, the massive sound but on the rare occasions an analog, lo-fi sound captures the atmosphere,honesty and passion needed to create something truly worth investing your time in and getting lost within the music,this is the case with the always brilliant LadyAxe, the Metal Matriarch is originally from South Africa but has since re-located to the Emerald Isle and it has brought a fire and passion that sounds unquenchable.
Following on from last years excellent Kairos album Of Hell and High Water tells tales of Irish Pirate Queen ,Finnish & Norse Mythology,Lovecraftian Tropes and Lore with each topic all related to the sea,the EP starts off with a bang in the shape of the brilliant Mother Of Ships which portrays the tale of Grainne Mhaol ,The Irish Pirate Queen, the song has plenty of time changes and Riffs for days all layered under soaring and passionate Vocals, things get a little bit Doomy and Eerie with Finnish Mythology inspired From The Depths Come Iko Turso a story about the bearded monster who was commanded by Pohjola to attack the ship Vainamoinen,Iko Turso would be bound by a spell cast by Vainamoinen and may never surface again, within the song a New Priestess casts her own spell to unleash Iko Turso to serve her biddings, The Priestess Calls is a very haunting and atmospheric song which sounds like the spell that awakens Iko Turso from his spell,at time it almost sounds,suddenly near the end of the track we're treated to very dark and foreboding Guitar lead which sounds like the summoning has been complete.
Time to get into some Norse Mythology with the absolutely epic masterpiece that is And I Saw The Sister Of Visund tells the fictional tale of a viking warrior abandoned by her Brethren and her Valkyrie failed to find her despite her dying in battle,she sees what she thinks is the Visund approaching but soon realises that it is in fact her Funeral ship, unable to get to Valhalla she vows to sail her funeral ship against the will of fate,the song has a very melancholic atmosphere and is reminiscent of early Manowar,this is also were you get a taste of what Axe is capable of vocally, the closing track on the EP gives us some Lovecraftian Lore in the shape of Malediction From The Black Reef which always seems to fit well with Heavy Metal , this song is based on the Lovecraft Novel The Shadow Over Innsmouth where U-Boats torpedo the Black/Devils Reef and Dagon curses them to never die but they're trapped within the abomination that is Innsmouth,the track has a nice mid pace with powerful and passionate vocals delivering a track fitting to close such a brilliant EP.
Of Hell and High Water may not have the big production,folk may think this method is better but what LadyAxe does is give you plenty of Atmosphere,Ethereal and Haunting Vocals,Passion and Honesty,something lacking in Modern Power/Heavy Metal these days,also the bravery to incorporate different topics like Lovecraftian Lore,Norse and Finnish Mythology and Historical Pirate Queens gives you transparent idea that Axe likes to challenge herself by doing the research into each topic properly,where you don't get any filler on her releases,long may this continue because it works perfectly for me. BANDCAMP: https://ladyaxe.bandcamp.com/
YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/user/LadyAxe13
Thank you so very much for this lovely review, Adrian! It is an honour to have people listen who understand the stories behind the music and appreciate the atmosphere!
ReplyDeleteIt's Well Deserved, the amount of research and passion you put into Lyrical and Musical content deserves to be commended
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