Label: High Roller Records
Review by Tony Cannella
The world of female fronted metal has never been stronger. There are great bands representing each genre (and sub-genre) of the metal universe. Whether or not they have a female singing is irrelevant, there are so many good bands, period. Personally I love the current crop of traditional heavy metal bands like Benedictum, Crystal Viper and HolyHell. Now you can add one more band to that list… Ladies and Gentleman from Sweden, I give you SlingBlade. Sorry, I don’t mean to be overly dramatic, but once in a while a band will come along that will remind you why you got into heavy metal in the first place. For me – thanks to their fantastic debut album “The Unpredicted Deeds of Molly Black” – SlingBlade is one such band.
There can be no doubt whatsoever that SlingBlade draw a good deal of their influences from 80s traditional heavy metal bands like Warlock, Accept, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Saxon and the NWOBHM movement in general. It is all right here on this fantastic debut. Lyrically “The Unpredicted Deeds of Molly Black” tells the story of a schoolgirl (Molly Black) who is bullied and picked on by her classmates. Having enough she decides to go on a killing spree. Pretty harsh material for a concept album and the music definitely matches. Lead vocalist Kristina Karlsson has a forceful metal type of voice similar to Marta Gabriel of Crystal Viper and Warlock era Doro Pesch. Musically, “The Unpredicted Deeds…” has a raw, live sounding vibe, you can almost picture a venue full of metal heads with their fists in the air and headbanging to their hearts content. “The Nature of Evil” gets things off to a great start and is a song that comes out of the gate with such adrenalin and fury that I am sure this would make a great song to open their live shows with. Next up is the catchy “Back to Class” which is followed in rapid fire succession by “Tie Her to the Cross”, “The Demon” and “Reverend’s Daughter” all of these songs are solid as a rock. Other highlights include: “Slasher on the Loose”, the over 7-minute “This Dream Will End” and the phenomenal final song “Give Back What You Borrow”, which is without a doubt my favorite song and just a perfect way to end things.
I loved this band. Sure it’s nothing we haven’t heard before, but I will always have time for a band like SlingBlade. “The Unpredicted Deeds of Molly Black” is an excellent debut and SlingBlade is unapologetically and proudly a heavy metal band. SlingBlade is a band – for me anyway – that will surely evoke memories of the 80s with their sound and attitude. I think I have a new band that will be among my favorites very soon.
Rating – 95/100
Tracklist
- The Nature of Evil
- Back to Class
- Tie Her to the Cross
- The Demon
- Reverend’s Daughter
- Slasher on the Loose
- Off the Hook
- This Dream Will End
- Molly’s Death
- Give Back What You Borrow
Line Up
- Kristina Karlsson – Vocals
- Johan Berg – Lead Guitar
- Tobias Ander – Guitar
- Niclas Svensson – Bass
- Peter Henriksson – Drums