Pretty Maids - Louder Than Ever
Frontiers Records
Melodic Heavy Metal
12 songs (54'02)
Release year: 0
Pretty Maids, Frontiers Records
Reviewed by Chris

Barely a year after the release of the unbelievable Motherland album, Pretty Maids is back with Louder Than Ever. This can be explained in the fact that the album is a actually a re-recording of old songs with an heavier edge. While I'm not much for this type of album, but as a die-hard fan of Pretty Maids I thought why not. The album also contains new songs, so that's good to take.

Learning about the album when it was announced I wasn't sure about the track list. I thought some of the songs there didn't need re-recording, being heavy enough, and others I didn't really know well, probably cause I lost interest in the band after Spooked and only rekindled my love of them with Pandemonium, so I surely missed some good songs :). I did give the albums in between a quick listen but never really got into them. Now as for the songs, they're pretty much all great songs, and it's clear the band added some heavy riffing here and there as well as a more heavy feel to the songs. It's still melodic and catchy as hell, but I admit it is heavier. Motherland was fantastic but I could see how some fans didn't like the almost radio sound production wise. This album should please them more in that regard. On the songs I wouldn't have re-recorded are Psycho Time Bomb & Snakes in Eden, as they were plenty heavy for my taste the first time around but it doesn't hurt to have them here as they are both classic Pretty Maids songs to me. I wouldn't have minded a heavier Rodeo myself, but that's just me :). On the other hand it's already a perfect song, so maybe it doesn't need a re-recording after all. The opener, Deranged, is one of the new songs and a great way to kick things into gear. It's heavy, catchy and a great opener. One of my favorite track on the record is also a new song, it's called My Soul to Take, a power ballad like only Pretty Maids could record. Nuclear Boomerang is also a new song and it kicks major ass, it's heavy yet ultra melodic and a fast rpm track with a very good chorus. The only new track that didn't do much for me is the closing ballad, it's not bad at all, but it's quite soft and from a band that can deliver heart wrenching, tear jerking ballads with power and brio, this seems like an easy track, and I don't like the idea of ending an album called Louder than Ever with one of the softer tracks the band ever released.

As always Ronnie Atkins vocals are simply amazing, and the sound of the guitars and the riffing throughout the album is surely a highlight as well ! It's a pure pleasure to rediscover many great songs with than heavier edge and most of the new tracks are just brilliant. In the end I don't know if this album warrants a quote or not. As there isn't that much new material into it. But the band sure put effort into improving the old songs, even those who didn't need improving IMHO. So I've decided to quote the album after all. If you like Pretty Maids, this album is a no brainer, it's edgy and quite heavy overall and contains mostly great to fantastic songs. It's a good album to put under one's teeth until the band comes up with the next full length album. They have big shoes to fill after Motherland but I'm confident the next album will be great as well as Pretty Maids seems to be in the zone lately.

Killing Songs :
Deranged, Psycho Time Bomb, My Soul to Take, Virtual Brutality, Tortured Spirit, With These Eyes, Nuclear Boomerang & Snakes in Eden.
Chris quoted 84 / 100
Other albums by Pretty Maids that we have reviewed:
Pretty Maids - Undress Your Madness reviewed by Andy and quoted 78 / 100
Pretty Maids - Motherland reviewed by Chris and quoted 100 / 100
Pretty Maids - Pandemonium reviewed by Chris and quoted 92 / 100
Pretty Maids - Scream reviewed by Ben and quoted 76 / 100
Pretty Maids - Wake Up To The Real World reviewed by Mike and quoted 90 / 100
To see all 13 reviews click here
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