What leads people with musical talents to gravitate towards harder styles of music is hard to pinpoint. For Kiara Laetitia, she apparently went through some rough period in her life, so there came the decision to pour out pent up emotions. My Skylark’s albums ownership does not extend past Gate of Heaven, so I am not really familiar with Kiara’s contributions to that famous Italian symphonic power outfit, but with Fight Now she is apparently embarking on a solo career.

The idea of the title song visited upon Kiara at 4 am one night, and from there she felt compelled to part with her recent problems and add some positivism to her life. The song, no doubt, has a radio hit appeal, and therein lies my problem with it. It is way too programmed to be that hit Kiara is seeking for her breakthrough. “Here we will have the verse, here we will have the bridge, the chorus ought to be laid to some double bass rhythms” – it seems way too standard and pre-arranged. Kiara is no Doro Pesch, but her voice is strong and carries well with this sort of music, it is just the spontaneity is not just lost, it is not there to begin with. David DeFeis, of Virgin Steele fame, is at the producer’s desk, because of an earlier acquaintance/collaboration and Kiara’s personal choice. David is no stranger producing hard rock hits, see his own extensive body of work for reference, and he probably delivered exactly what the pair envisioned – measured quality emphasized over anything left-field and unexpected. I’m Not God and Miss You Again do not quite punch as hard as Fight Now. Both songs are slower, with more prominent keyboards and piano (I’m Not God) and almost entirely balladic in the case of Miss You Again. That song is almost entirely too sweet, with only traces of harshness remaining.

To close the EP Kiara did a cover of Virgin Steele’s Victory is Mine. Given the choice of a producer the choice of the cover almost hints at David trying how that song would sound slowed down, with female vocals, and somewhat mid-Eastern atmosphere and arrangements.

While the work on Fight Now is entirely professional quality, this is an attempt at marketable hard rock/metal, not my cup of tea. I do hope for Kiara’s sake, that she has enough contacts at radio stations here in the US and over in Europe to spin Fight Now long enough that her stature as a solo artist grows.