Hysterica - Metalwar 4/5

01. We Are the Undertakers 3:20 02. Halloween 3:43 03. Bless the Beast 3:46 04. Girls Made of Heavy Metal 3:07 05. Louder 2:48 06. Metalwar 3:45 07. Wreck of Society 4:38 08. The Bitch Is Back 3:04 09. Got the Devil in Me 4:23 10. Heavy Metal Man 3:37 11. Pain in the Ass 3:48

There are two distinct flavours of female fronted bands. Firstly are the operatic, symphonic and gothy bands where the purpose of the singer, as well as high pitched warbling, is to float around the front of the stage – making any red blooded men in the crowd dribble.

The second kind are the ones who take the fight right to their male counterparts – with just as much (if not more) confidence, power and attitude. The self styled queen of metal, Doro has been doing this for years, mixing it with the big boys – and more often than not – putting them to shame. But now, it seems she may have to fight to defend her crown at the top of the metal heap.

Hysterica are an all female metal powerhouse. Fronted by lead singer Anni De Vil [oooh you see what she did there?] they play their own brand of sleazy metal with some style. They claim to be inspired by the gods of heavy metal – namely Judas Priest.

My first impression of Hysterica’s debut album: Metalwar was that lead singer, Anni De Vil has a MIGHTY set of lungs. They are just full to the brim of power and forcefulness. The lyrics are entertaining as well: Think of The Darkness (for sleaze) crossed with Manowar (for waxing lyrical about the love of all things metal and for rhyming “We’re here to fight / Fight for the truth that we believe in our hearts is right”.) Then turn all of the sleaziness back to front: Heavy Metal Man illustrates the point rather nicely:

“A man who rocks your world when you’re all alone / Like a perfect taste of heaven and hell / If he’s got long hair and tattoos everywhere / You can be sure he’s a heavy metal man”

For an oldschool/power metal band there is a sad lack of guitar solos, there are a few, and where they raise their head, they are solid – the soloing on Girls Made Of Heavy Metal is top notch, a real highlight of the album – but they seem to be like Jammy Dodgers: absolutely awesome, but there are never enough in the packet.

If I have any nits to pick with this band (which I doubt – from the sleeve-notes, all of the band look to have very well kept hair) then I would have to say that I’m not a fan of metal stage names – I think they undermine your achievements as a musician – if I was to make an album – and I was proud of it – I’d want to put my own name to it. Avenged Sevenfold are guilty of this as well (and their hair isn’t nearly as nice)

I think Hysterica are good enough not to have to rely on any gimmicks at all – the music is easily strong enough (on their debut full length album) for them to be a much more serious band. But, if they want to wear black leather all the time and look awesome, then who am I to stop them?

Metalwar is available to buy or download at play.com

Genre : Power Metal, Female fronted

Article by Richard Passe