{"id":8825,"date":"2010-05-14T00:00:43","date_gmt":"2010-05-14T00:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=8825"},"modified":"2013-06-01T13:59:47","modified_gmt":"2013-06-01T13:59:47","slug":"album-review-pretty-maids-pandemonium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-pretty-maids-pandemonium\/","title":{"rendered":"PRETTY MAIDS – Pandemonium (2010) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

PRETTY MAIDS
Pandemonium<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nFrontiers (2010)<\/span>
Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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I think the last Pretty Maids album I actually bought was Future World<\/em> (1987), so excuse my ignorance. Who would have thought that some 25 years later they\u2019d be still rocking out… and rocking hard too.<\/p>\n

Pandemonium<\/em> is the Danes\u2019 11th album, and what a corker it is. How many of those old, once thought extinct bands are going to keep coming back harder and stronger? Pretty Maids are a force to be reckoned with. The facts are, if some new, polished metal band had released this opus then the press would be all over it claiming them to be the next big thing. But Pretty Maids have always been criminally underrated, and in Ronnie Atkins we have a snarling vocalist who still hits the notes as the guitar attack of the aptly named Kenneth Hammer do exactly what they say on the tin.<\/p>\n

Pandemonium<\/em> really does live up to its name, boasting ten tracks (11 if you get the digipak version with a bonus remix of \u2018It Comes At Night\u2019), with every one a barnstormer. Atkins is more Joe Lest\u00e9 (Bang Tango, Beautiful Creatures) in his gnarly approach, but he can also croon too. The opening title track features a chugging riff and a keyboard-laced groove that reaches an infectious chorus, this being a mighty slab of Euro metal with high quality production.<\/p>\n

\u2018I.N.V.U.\u2019 drifts in on a sea of bass courtesy of Kenn Jackson and then becomes a lump of molten metal, with a killer riff and Allan Tschicaja\u2019s volcanic drums. The band effortlessly injects some subtlety until the big anthemic chorus erupts.<\/p>\n

Time after time, track after track, Pretty Maids hit a winner. \u2018Little Drops Of Heaven\u2019 floats in with a lush keyboard effect and Atkins\u2019 narrative. This is probably the most melodic track on the album; a lavish 80s style hair metal ballad with slow, sultry drum plod. Favourite track however has to be the marching \u2018It Comes At Night\u2019, with its demonic chug, and Atkins\u2019 fierce growls, with the drums wrenching the track into a guttural chorus. Even the injection of keyboards doesn\u2019t dampen down the attitude of this track.<\/p>\n

\u2018Final Day Of Innocence\u2019 follows suit, beginning like The Who\u2019s \u2018Won\u2019t Get Fooled Again\u2019 (from 1971\u2019s Who’s Next<\/em>) before rising from the ashes of its enemies, with Atkins giving a more laid back vocal as Hammers\u2019 guitar storms the beaches backed by the drum barrage of Tschicaja. This track has one of the album\u2019s best choruses; proof that the old guard are still the most reliable when it comes to top notch metal. The album tip-toes out on the sighing \u2018Breathless\u2019, a late night radio rocker that has a strong ballad feel; imagine a beefier Def Leppard as it sways.<\/p>\n

There is a real drama and emotion about Pandemonium<\/em> and one can\u2019t help but be swept away by it all. A glorious record.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PRETTY MAIDSPandemonium Frontiers (2010)Rating: 8.5\/10 I think the last Pretty Maids album I actually bought was Future World (1987), so excuse my ignorance. Who would have thought that some 25 years later they\u2019d be still rocking out… and rocking hard too. Pandemonium is the Danes\u2019 11th album, and what a corker it is. How many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,461],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-pretty-maids"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8825"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11959,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8825\/revisions\/11959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}