Any time I have to review an album by a completely unknown - to me - band I feel totally stress-free. Not to anyone else but to my own self. To hell with the requirements, the success or not, the standards, the predictions, the expectations. Tabula raza, let it be! I imagine a man (or woman), never having heard of Black Sabbath, to be given a (hypothetical) latest album for review. Wow! If the Sabbs do it, I'll probably pass the ball to my dad...
Twyster hail from Germany. This quartet is female fronted (Coco Voss) and was formed in the mid-90's by ex-Blazon guitarist Ralf Jahnel and bassist Oliver Emde. After two demo recordings, the band released the Lunatic Siren album in 2002 - produced by The Midas Twins (Powergod, The Traceelords) in Hagen - and now assault us with their second strike, again through the Massacre Records label. Let's see it from the inside:
The voice of Coco is very good! She may not have the perfect English accent, still I have the impression that she does NOT want to be hard 100% English, she likes things to be a little harsh. That doesn't mean that there is no melody here. The woman has a really correct voice for both soft and hard lines. Yeah, you want to know what she's like... Let's see: Leather (Chastain) hangs out with Velvet Viper-era Jutta and they run into early-Nightwish Tarja who is having her first glass of red wine with L7 frontwoman (can't remember a name I never knew...). Confused? Lemme clear thing out:
You may have a good singer to make some noise, still the musicians carry the load, for me. Hence, three great men perform with uncooked, concrete sound and produce attractive songs, tunes that catch your attention straight after the first time you put the CD. Thirteen songs, some straightforward Hard Rock, others with enough heaviness and some under a more modern Metal approach. This, because - in addition - the absence of keyboards creates an overall different vibe. It's honorable that these guys with this singer don't fall into the usual - for our days - atmospheric trap.
Not to be forgotten: the production is really stout, revealing 100% the band's need for sincere music, be it a speed Metal The Storm Is Back, a 00's Euro Female Push Me Down or an island moonlit Follow The Storm. Without any needless concept, plain and strong. In general, if you can afford the money for a release that does not have any strong similarities to any other band (in our copy/paste music world of Metal), there's no chance you'll be disappointed. Twyster thumbs up!