Take the title of this album. Add in song titles like We Are The Undertakers, Bless The Beast and Heavy Metal Man. Consider the names of the band members: Anni De Vil, Bitchie, RockZilla, SatAnica and Hell’n. Mix it all with the dubious amount of medieval weaponry brandished in the sleeve photos. Any guesses on what the band sounds like? You in the back, Manowar, was that? Well, you’re close.

As some of the names above will hint, Hysterica is an all-female band. This can of course create some interesting speculation if their tunes have an appropriately reversed take on the Pleasure Slave-themes of DeMaio & Co. Not too much. Although tunes like the aforementioned Heavy Metal Man and Pain In The Ass chuck sharp spears towards no-good males, overall this album concentrates on fighting for rock and metal and doing it very *ucking hard no matter your gender.

Like I said, musically this isn’t a complete Manofest either. While the most pounding tracks like Louder and the title track could easily be heard with the voice of Eric Adams hovering above the muscular riffs and fist-pounding rhythms, there’s a very clear early-80s hard rock feeling present as well. Think Shout At The Devil-era Mötley Crüe. The playing here is top-notch throughout and singer De Vil has a very confident voice that suits the material well. If you're picky about your technique, she tends to go slightly thinner in the higher notes but she still beats most generic power metal singers with attitude alone.

With the above depictions, you can imagine that the songs are very meat-n-potatoes, no proggy time changes or psychedelic jams to be found here. Wreck Of Society may at first make you think that the mandatory ballad is upon you until the crunchy riffs crack you in the face. Besides a few short interludes, this record is all drive and no mush. It’s a shame though that most of the drive isn’t fast enough. Girls Made Of Heavy Metal and Pain In The Ass push the album into overdrive momentarily but then the succession of mid-tempo steamrollers halt the rise. The tempos notwithstanding, every song has a shout-along chorus to raise horns and pints with so I can see these tunes getting over live.

Hysterica doesn’t try to bring anything new onto the fields but grinds out their brand of tried-and-true metal mixed with fitting elements of hard rock very skilfully. Those needing some new records to spin while drinking and pillaging, Metalwar is for you.