PRETTY MAIDS – Louder Than Ever (2014)

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Danish melodic hard rock favorites PRETTY MAIDS don’t want to take a break: it’s exactly one year ago when Ronnie Atkins and the gusy released their latest album ‘Motherland’, which was followed by a long European-Tour.
In-between they recorded this new effort entitled “Louder Than Ever” – an album that consists of re-recordings from songs of the 1995 – 2006 era, plus four brand new tracks, and will be released by Frontiers Records this week.

The band reworked songs from their ‘90s Massacre label releases (which are all in desperate need of a good reissue campaign, by the way). The re-recordings are familiar, yet the sound more intense and powerful, interesting enough to hear them in the hands of the new lineup and new producer.
It’s as if the Maids wanted to keep modern sounding, making them heavier, even harsher than before but melodious as ever. They did pick some of their most heavy, raging, songs to re-record like “Psycho Time Bomb Planet Earth” and “Virtual Brutality”.

As to the four new compositions, two fit right in with the kick ass, harder approach to the older songs; these are “Deranged” and “Nuclear Boomerang”, both blistering with heavy riffs and speed.

Then “My Soul To Take” dials things back sounding more like grooved melodic hard rock with high doses of catchiness, while “A Heart Without A Home” also backs off on the intensity giving you a smooth rocking anthem, quite the contrast to the bulk of this album.
The release includes a DVD featuring a retrospective of the Motherland 2013 World Tour, and also archive footage from early stages of the band’s career, interviews, etc.

Pretty Maids is calling this release an ‘in-between’ album as they work on new songs for their next new CD.
The music packed here makes justice to its name: “Louder Than Ever” indeed, showing Pretty Maids’ heaviest side but with a strong emphasis on the melodies. In short: ROCKS.
Very Recommended.

01. Deranged (New Song)
02. Playing God (Rerecorded)
03. Psycho Time Bomb Planet Earth (Rerecorded)
04. My Soul To Take (New Song)
05. He Who Never Lived (Rerecorded)
06. Virtual Brutality (Rerecorded)
07. Tortured Spirit (Rerecorded)
08. With These Eyes (Rerecorded)
09. Nuclear Boomerang (New Song)
10. Snakes In Eden (Rerecorded)
11. Wake Up To The Real World (Rerecorded)
12. A Heart Without A Home (New Song)

Ronnie Atkins – Vocals
Ken Hammer – Guitars
Morten Sandager – Keyboards
Shades – Bass
Allan Tschicaja – Drums

Pre-Order:
www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=9115698
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