Review Summary: I won't be what you want me to be
In This Moment has always had a very odd aesthetic. Females in metal have been, for the most part, a novelty. Excluding symphonic metal, the mere sight of female in a metal band tends to raise a few eyebrows. While some bands opt to shrug off this fact, vocalist Maria Brink and the rest of the band have recognized and taken advantage of it. And while one could argue that In This Moment has never been a metal band, they certainly have some qualities and tendencies in their music to relate to it. There are sustained screams, low-tuned guitars, breakdowns, and the a glam image that resembles the shock-rock style of Rob Zombie and Motley Crue. Over the years, they have clearly carved and marked their space in the radio rock and metal landscape. The question is, does this space have any value?
I had a very skeptical view of In This Moment after
Blood. I found the album to be disappointing in many aspects. It was undeniably catchy, but with the price of seeming overwhelmingly like a musical and lyrical regression from their previous work. I saw them live twice as a supporting act and it was clear that the glam and sex appeal of
Blood was not only a priority for the band, but the main attraction. After the initial disappointment, I realized that In This Moment should not be viewed as a metal band with pop influences, but as a pop band with metal influences.
Black Widow does nothing to shy away from the precedent that the band set with
Blood. Instead, it embraces it, and pushes the ideas presented in
Blood to new lengths. The sex appeal, the electronic elements, and the overall catchiness of the music is presented entirely unapologetically. Questionable song titles include "Sex Metal Barbie" and "Bloody Creature Poster Girl." Maria Brink has tried harder than ever to sound seductive here. As skeptical as I was, it really all works. The electronic elements, in addition to the generic down-tuned guitars, tend to be much more effective than gimmicky, as they have been in the past. "Big Bad Wolf" highlights all of this, with a very strong Marilyn Manson vibe in its distorted vocals and electronic atmosphere.
At first glance, this is a very erotic album. It oozes sex from the album cover and in every song, seldom skipping an opportunity to demonstrate the dichotomy between Brink's femininity and the music's general masculinity. For a long time, I assumed this was a decision that was made to appeal to a younger, hormone-raging audience. That still might be the case, but I'll give In This Moment the benefit of the doubt because of the themes present in the lyrics, not to mention the renewed musical variety. Instead, I believe the decision was made to emphasize the nuances of sex appeal that influence our perception of gender roles and stereotypes. There is a clear questioning of stereotypes going on throughout
Black Widow, from the fighting against sexual prescriptivism in "Natural Born Sinner," to the struggle in not fitting the feminine ideal in "Dirty Pretty."
If you don't listen to the last two tracks of
Black Widow, perhaps you would miss the whole point. Similar to the often unpredictable emotions in the aftermath of sexual situations, the album takes a sharp, unpredictable turn in "Into the Darkness." It's a relatively short track (one of two that comes in at under three minutes) with an agonizing conversation, followed by crying.
If this is the cost of using someone for sex, I don't want it. In This Moment begs the acceptance of that fact, throwing the guilt in the listener's face.
We know you've found this arousing, they say,
but there's another side to it that you should know. "Out of Hell" caps off the album by adding to that point. It's a quiet ballad, with the vocal sex appeal removed and replaced with melancholy reflection.
With that analysis in mind,
Black Widow's web is woven together well, but not perfectly. At a full hour, the album has 11 of 13 tracks going beyond four minutes, and several of them going beyond five. Halfway through the record, it begins to feel a bit repetitive. Much of this blamed on extended intros and outros, rather than supposedly repetitive song structures. Sadly, it still takes away from the desired impact of the second half of the album. "The Fighter" and "Bones", though decent songs, begin to feel like filler in the context of the songs preceding and following it.
I like how this album sounds and I'm aware that others may not. That's the subjective aspect of music and I can't argue against that. However, I maintain that there musical and quite possibly social value with the work that In This Moment has produced. There is clearly a statement that Brink and the rest of the band are making here, and it demonstrates more artistic integrity than most give them credit for. If anything,
Black Widow is too ambitious. It succeeds at being appealing and catchy in a pop sense, while still being innovative with including various influences from the realms of rock and metal. The general rules in the music industry, especially as of late, have come across like this: pop albums should be simple. They shouldn't have anything too complex to say.
Black Widow fails on both accounts, and for that, it's biggest flaw might be that it's simply ahead of its time.
