Independent Release
Review By Tony Cannella
What’s in a name anyway? From Austria comes DrawZZnikk and everything about this bands screams antithesis of all we hold dear in the world of Female Fronted Metal. Beginning with their interesting name, to their powerful, guitar-driven metal, melodic style that gives perhaps a nod and a wink to guitar heroes of the past (remember those days?). They have just released their debut, self-titled demo. Stylistically the band shreds, thanks to the guitar work provided by Martin Traussnigg, who I am sure, will procure a following along amongst guitar players out there. Lead vocalist Nina Traussnigg has an interesting voice, featuring a raspy vocal delivery. “All Through the Night” begins with sinister laugh intro and then launches into some serious Randy Rhoads inspired riffing. Vocalist Nina Traussnigg then lends her powerful and raspy vocals to the intense opening tune, which I have a feeling that guitar players will come to love. I also have a feeling that Nina’s vocals will draw mixed opinions, I will say this, her style is nothing like the current crop of female lead vocalists in metal bands, in fact, and her style is quite the opposite to the angelic/operatic vocals of many contemporary female metal singers. She adds a masculine and forceful energy to the songs.“I Am the Wild” continues in a heavy, riff oriented direction. DrawZZnikk slows things down a bit with the half-ballad (do we still use the term power ballad?) “Our Ways” giving the CD a bit of diversity. My favorite track was “Maybe”. This is just a great song, with powerful riffs and many tempo changes and perhaps the best vocal performance on the CD by Nina Traussnigg also check out the Ozzy-era Black Sabbath style riffing on this track. The instrumental track, “The Age of Innocence” closes out this CD behind a barrage of heavy, doomy riffs, great guitar solos and strong musicianship. The songs on this demo are well done and they remind me of a bygone era of when there were actually guitar heroes. DrawZZnikk are a cool band that combines influences of the present and the past on their debut.
Rating – 82/100
Tracklist
- All Through the Night
- I Am the Wild
- Our Ways
- Maybe
- The Age of Innocence
Line Up
- Nina Traussnigg – Vocals
- Martin Traussnigg – Guitar
- Thomas Hassler – Bass
- Andreas Gartler – Drums
Links
MySpace * ReverbNation * Facebook * Twitter * Site