By Rob Thompson
Huntress first came to my attention when they featured in Metal Hammer and Terrorizer last year. Then I was lucky enough to catch them at this years Download where they executed a killer set on The Red Bull Stage. So it was with interest that I listened to their second release, via Napalm Records, Starbound Beast. First-up you can really hear the high production qualities as they employed the skills of Zeuss (Shadows Fall, Hatebreed, Agnostic Front). Crisp guitars and clear vocals all excellently mixed but I felt that the bass could have been more prominent (possibly just a personal preference); the artwork is superb too. The band have also decided on a different logo which, in my opinion, is much better than the one on last year’s Spell Eater. The overall feel of the album is cohesiveness and professionalism; each track highlighting excellent progressive thrash metal-like songmanship which alsotakes inspiration from classic bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. In fact vocalist Jill Janus’s vocal approach at times reminded me of Gods like Dickinson, Halford and in places Hetfield. So, taking each track in turn.
The album kicks off with an introductory number, ‘Enter The Exosphere’; synths, guitars and vocal harmonies blend into some crunching riffs and melodic solos. This short track serves as a lead into 'Blood Sisters', a stand out track which uses thrash riffs to generate a vortex of hard-hitting, bone crushing metal. Towards the end of the track the song structure changes slightly, but it’s still relentless. This is the first time we hear the awesome vocal talents of the aforementioned Jill Janus, who also treats us to some unexpected death growls too. How such a demure person manages to make a noise like this is worrying, it sounds like she may actually be possessed as she growls:
"Blood Sisters forever
Blood Sisters"
Next up is 'I Want To Fuck You To Death' with lyrics by Lemmy. However, this song sounds like a Motörhead album track. Nothing wrong with this as it's got a certain edge to it. But its straight to the point lyrics are not indicative of the rest of the album. While the fact Lemmy is involved will no doubt be of interest to metal fans, for me this song should have been left as a bonus track. Marketing-wise good choice as a single but perhaps not the best representation of what the band is all about?
‘Destroy Your Life‘ starts off with some old school NWOBHM soloing; a pacey track galloping along at a fair old rate. The solos kick in again just over half way through, which a growled chorus:
“Nothing really matters
Nothing stays the same”
The title track ‘Starbound Beast‘ follows and this showcases some lyrical occult themes which ponder witches’ covens and the voyage you take following death. The middle section of the track is vocal free and is a first-class way of demonstrating the excellent musicianship and sharp song-writing. As the track concludes some doom metal is thrown into the mix too.
‘Zenith‘ remains true to the roots of melodic heavy metal with thundering drums, heavy riffs, spectral solos and a catchy chorus. This is followed by 'Oracle' which invokes the mystical:
“Sacrifice at the temple
Sanctuary of the wise
Hail to the virgin Oracle
She's the priestess of Delphi”
Here the fast tempo and percussive beats are overlaid with shredding lead work again highlighting the thrasher side of the band.
Tracks such as ‘Receiver‘ and ‘Spectra Spectral‘ again shows the inclination of the band towards NWOBHM and the album concludes with the longest track on album 'Alpha Tauri'. This shows a possible future direction for the band as it has much more subdued sections, instead of the all-out assault of previous tracks.
So, in summary this is a great but not truly excellent release, in other words the tracks are definitely not filler but by and large it’s definitely not all killer. Each track is good and the band is workmanlike in their approach, but you can’t help thinking that this awesome vocalist deserves just a little better.
