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BITTER VELVET
Unleashed Fears

Stormspell (2023)
Rating: 6/10

Bitter Velvet is a duo from Quito in Ecuador that dabbles in high octane glam-tinged rock with traditional metal streaks. The team of Malikce (vocals) and Sage Zavage (all instruments) is an interesting one, if at times lightweight and mechanical in its feel.

From the off Malikce has that sort of 80s bubblegum glam tone about her pinched, high tones. Opener ‘A Monster In Disguise’ is catchy enough but lacks weight, which is something the whole album suffers from mostly due to the thin production. After a few listens of this debut I’m not so sure I was ready, and neither was the band, for a full-length. The novelty wears off halfway through just due to the poppy nature even though Zavage does attempt some fire with his axe work, particularly on ‘Princess Within’ which is lightweight speed metal.

Unleashed Fears is very much a hard rock / metal outing but there just isn’t any crunch or atmosphere. The hardest the twosome gets is on the chugging ‘The Long And Lonely Fight’, but as with a majority of tracks when pace is applied it sounds synthetic.

Thankfully, the album only runs for just over 34 minutes, but in that duration you experience the tepid ballad ‘Illumination’, the groove based strut of ‘Bad Girl’ and steady loping rocker ‘Tangled Web’. And yet within the synthetic structuring there is an understanding of heavy metal as showcased on ‘Heavy Metal Bomb’ and the racy ‘Whispers Of You’.

As albums go, this feels unorthodox, probably due to the teaming of the vocals and less than impactful hard rock, but I’m still glad I experienced it.

Neil Arnold

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