Review Summary: The Metal Queen goes 80s pop
If that title isn't too much of a deal-breaker, what will you find on this album? Some weaker parts, yes, but also a lot of good songs. It's not Lee Aaron's best album, but it's better than it could have been.
This is one of those 80s album with its of cheesy synths and some guitars, and generic songs that are not completely pop, not completely rock or new wave, basically all 80s mainstream music mixed together. But it still has Lee's trademark intensity and powerful vocals, and memorable songwriting. It's obvious on "Hands Are Tied", the heaviest song on the album and my personal favorite, with its catchy, slightly funky riffs, powerful howling vocals and lyrics about a relationship with someone who's never satisfied by anything you do. Lee is known for empowerment songs, but this is one of her saddest, an anomaly in her discography in the best of ways. Unfortunately, the rest of this album isn't as deep.
That's not necessarily a bad thing. Yes, there are some rather unremarkable, forgettable songs, like the power ballad "Only Human". If anything, this one is more guitar-based than most of the album, but I can't stand these pseudo-philosophical lyrics about how we are only human and therefore flawed or whatever. "Powerline" kind of feels like the theme song for an 80s movie, and I can't tell if that's a good thing or not. It would probably the kind of theme song that's better remembered than the movie itself. But "Number One" is a pretty catchy rock song, even though it sounds like too many others.
Then, the next songs are pretty fun, even though they sound a little too alike, and like many other songs from the same year. If you're on board with a more synth-driven Lee Aaron, "Don't Rain on My Parade" has some nice synths and a catchy chorus with back-and-forth vocals between Lee and her back-up band. "Going off the Deep End" is an even better song in that vein, with a chant by the entire band that will be repeated in the chorus, catchy riffs and synths, and lyrics all about the dizzying joy of falling madly in love. "Eye for an Eye" is the complete opposite, being another catchy guitar and synths song... about promising you'll fight back if anyone ever tries to hurt you. This one is the last rock song on the album, but it has probably too much synths, so it doesn't feel as raw and unpolished as it should be.
The same problem can be found on most of the album: I think it's a little over-produced, over-polished, and would honestly work just as well without those over-bearing synths. It also has too many ballads. You're Lee Aaron, damn it, not a generic 80s pop star. And yet, the ballads are where the synths truly shine. The instrumentations of "Heartbeat of the World", "Dream With Me" and "If this is Love" are very good, and the songs are very sweet, soothing numbers, with instantly memorable choruses. I'd even say they're better than some of the ballads in her previous or next albums.
And this is why this album is full of contradictions. It has both good and bad songs, it has too much synths, but the purely synth-based tracks are still good, it's somewhat generic but it retains a lot of Lee Aaron's personality, just softer than the larger than life tone of her previous albums. It's pretty good, as far as attempts to go softer go. I probably shouldn't like this so much, and I'll admit it's not her best, but I still enjoy it. I think you'll enjoy it too, if you don't have overly restrictive ideas of what a Lee Aaron album should be, or if you crave anything that sounds 80s enough to satisfy your nostalgia for that decade, while still having enough personality to stand out.
