As a lady myself, it's always nice to see women in Rock and Metal. We're definitely underrepresented in this music genre, but at the same time, I don't like when the female member of the group is there just because she's a girl. Luckily, STELLA BLACKROSE's lead singer makes sure that gender doesn't matter, and it's all about how hard you rock.

"Death And Forever" is the Danish band's second full length release and, to put it simply, it's really rather good. STELLA BLACKROSE are all about power on this album - a powerful lead singer, powerful riffs, and powerful beats. It's got great melodies as well - creating many tracks that'll stick with you long after you've listened to them. The album's got a good structure to it - you're never left thinking that a song feels out of place. And there's certainly none of these songs that feel out of place - they're all excellent, and this is an album that will have widespread appeal. It's not so heavy that it'll put people off, but it's definitely not an album of ballads either. There's some talented songwriting on display here, evident in both the lyrics and the music. Considering that there's so few bands with female lead singers (relative to male fronted bands), it would be easy to draw comparisons to bands such as EVANESCENCE or LACUNA COIL. But I'm not going to do that, because it wouldn't be fair, as STELLA BLACKROSE are a very good band on their own merit.

Saying that, the main pull of STELLA BLACKROSE, in my opinion, are the vocals of Rebecca Lou Armstrong - full of power, and singing every word with meaning, she was the highlight of the album for me. The guitars from Lund and Jespersen back up her vocals with their own power, whilst creating rhythms that have a nostalgic sound to them, but at the same time feel very modern. The bass and drum work from Ardilsø and Gundel creates a back drop that brings together the whole album very nicely. "Death And Forever" never really lets up, it's Hard Rock all the way through, and it's a very good 50 minutes or so of music.

So if you're looking for something new, something just that little bit different, then STELLA BLACKROSE might just be the band for you. The female vocals provide a refreshing change from the male growls that many have become accustomed to, but don't let that be the only reason you check them out - do it because they're an awesome band.