Review Summary: An Electric Band Blows A Fuse
Similarly to Jill Janus’s bipolar disorder, Huntress have trodden a rocky path over mountains and through crevasses. Atop the mountains, the quintet have established their own profile for brewing occult with blazing melodies under a spell of NWOBHM and toured with popular bands such as Lamb Of God, Amon Amarth, Testament and Kreator, bewitching crowds wherever they may be. However, what goes up must come down. After each record, the band sees multiple member departures not to mention their High Priestess is currently recovering from cancer surgery as well as prior diagnosis with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia at an early age.
Despite the band denying Jill’s image to the band is not their main catalyst for success, you have to wonder if that statement is wholly true seeing as a) her face is the album art work and b) in band images and on stage she does haunt around in rather exposing garb. The entirety of their third album, “Static” supports this provocative imagery and lyricism. Tracks such as ‘Flesh’ include catchy lyrics such as “aren’t you like a wild beast” and “what makes me want you bad? Well, I can’t stop craving your flesh”.
Standing at just shy of 9 minutes, ‘Mania’ is the longest track Huntress have created and should have plenty of time to fill with exciting musicianship and hypnotising imagery. Instead it maintains a consistent level of disinterest as the tempo never alters dramatically. There’s a lot they could have done with ‘Mania’ yet it has unfortunately been wasted on an ineffectively slow atmosphere. There are still moments of insanity that sustain their NWOBHM tag. Straight off the bat, whirling solos and frantic drumming from Blake and Tyler Meahl introduce the album opener: ‘Sorrow’. This wild tone follows throughout the entire album but only leads occasionally in tracks such as ’Four Blood Moons’ and ‘Harsh Times on Planet Stoked’ whereby the latter’s vibrant guitars match the cosmic lyricism.
Jill Janus’s voice is clearly the spotlight for Huntress’ latest album. Sadly, the majority of the vocals on some songs seem overpowering on the instrumentation and therefore make any faults more obvious. As mentioned, ‘Sorrow’ features some wild guitars that do great work in providing an untamed character to the album however Jill’s vocals completely cover the riffs and force your attention onto her screams. During ‘Brain’ you are tricked into thinking that the guitars will lead the charge, flanked by a flurry of blast beats however as soon as the lingering voice intrudes, the momentum breaks and conjures a jaded impression on the once-powerful riffing. Even the title ‘Brain’ seems lacklustre for such a necromantic woman. Was that the sound of Rob Zombie face-palming?
As for production, Paul Fig (Alice In Chains, Deftones) does a good job of providing a crisp sound to the entire album to enhance the surge of energy that Huntress produce-save for the overriding vocals. The final track ‘Fire In My Heart’ resembles what Huntress should been concentrating on all along. A good mix between instruments and vocals, catchy lyrics and an aggressive attitude that leaves you thinking: “Huntress; if it ain’t broke- don’t fix it...”
