Forming half of Canadian thrash merchants Mortillery are Miranda Wolfe and Cara McCutcheon. The former is the bass player and the latter handles vocals. The band has had two albums released so far.
Cara McCutcheon
and
Miranda Wolfe
(Mortillery)
With the band only having been around since 2008, a cursory jog around the interweb yields little in the form of information I can give you, but one interesting thing is that when asked what bands she would most like to support, Cara mentioned both Toxic Holocaust and Municipal Waste, Violet's two picks for my “Don't listen to that --- listen to this!” section. Spooky huh? No? Ah, just go listen to the band then...
Could you believe a face like that could sound like this? Well Batty will tell you all about Thorr's Hammer, who only released one EP in their short life, but it was shocking enough to jolt me in last year's Torture Chamber. Does she kiss her boyfriend with that mouth?
Runhild Gammelster (Thorr's Hammer)
Not only has she a voice that belies her angelic looks, and in fact drags you into the deepest pit of Hell, but Runhild also dabbles in dark ambient music, and has released an album under her own name. Apart from that, she has a PhD in cell physiology. So, not just a pretty face with a demonic dark horror voice then!
Be warned, if you've not yet heard this, this IS her singing... and don't be fooled by the easy beginning of the song!
Getting back to albums, and something a little heavier than Steve's sexy daughter, let's move on to
Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy, The Agonist)
Arch Enemy have been going since 1996, usually with a male vocalist, but when original vocalist Johann Livia left in 1999 the Swedish melodic death metal band took on Angela Gossow, who recorded with them up until last year, when she was replaced by Alissa White-Gluz. Alissa had previously worked with fellow Canadians The Agonist (whom she founded) before taking up her post as Arch Enemy's third singer. She has also guested on albums by Blackguard, Delain and Kamelot, and in a perhaps un-Metal lifechoice, (though let's not forget the charming Cattle Decapitation!) she is a vegan, who supports animal rights and has been honoured by PETA.
Her only album with Arch Enemy thus far is this one, released last year.
War Eternal --- Arch Enemy --- 2014 (Century Media)
Trying to lull us into a false sense of security before pouncing and going for the throat, the album opens on a classical piece with operatic overtones, which must have helped her when she guested on Kamelot's
Silverthorn and
Haven, but of course this doesn't last and “Never forgive, never forget” launches the album proper, with a pounding guitar assault and then Alissa's vocal is, as you would expect from a MDM band, raw and ragged, belying perhaps her looks. But then, we all remember Thorr's Hammer from last year, don't we? Oh, and only the last entry too! I certainly do: still wake up in the night with the sheets clammy... Anyway, enough about me. To be fair, her voice is discernible for this sub-genre of metal and the guitar work is nothing short of superb. A good start then.
Michael Arnott overlays some really impressive keyboards over the melody, then the title track keeps things fast and heavy, and I can for once see why this band deserves the word “melodic” in their description. The guitars never descend into that unrecognisable mess I've seen in other bands of this nature, and there seems to be very much a sense of control over the chaos. Here, Alissa sounds just like a man, though I guess if you're growling it's not too hard to make that assumption, as generally we're used to women singing a particular way. Great solo from Arnott, then the first of five tracks written by Alissa herself kicks everything up to ten with “As the pages burn”, which slows down for the chorus but then ramps right back up after it. Some pretty crazy drumming from Daniel Erlandsson, as Nick Cordle and Arnott trade guitar licks. Another rasping delivery from Alissa as she exults in the twin roles of singer and songwriter, and Arnott again embellishes the tune with some sublime keyboard strokes.
The next one is one of Alissa's too, and “No more regrets” introduces some speed shredding from Arnott, making the previous track seem almost plodding by comparison. Well, not quite, but this is breakneck speed. There's a very definite classical or neoclassical feel to this, great ending, then we're back to an Arnott composition (he writes all the other tracks) with an almost indie idea in “You will know my name” before a Lizzy-like guitar takes the song. Slower, kind of boogeying along with a more restrained vocal from Alissa, then she takes a breather as we get the second instrumental. Fun fact: whoever wrote the Wiki page for this album made a spelling error and called it an “instrumetal”. Think I may rob and use that. Or maybe not. But it is very clever, even if it was a slip of the finger.
Anyway, this instrumetal (Copyright Trollheart JustThisMinute) is called “Graveyard of dreams” and it's a rather lovely little guitar workout, quite balladic with elements of the likes of prog or symphonic metal in it. But Alissa is back then with “Stolen life” and everything kicks up again, her voice rising in cadence as the song powers along on some really quite symphonic keyboard from Arnott as well as the twin guitar attack. The next three songs are all Alissa's own work, and “Time is black” starts with what sounds like glockenspiel and certainly has orchestral work in it, like something out of a Tim Burton movie before it picks up pace and power and lets loose in a fast rocker. “On and on” has a more kind of rolling drumbeat and is quite melodic, though no less heavy.
You probably have noticed I'm not going into the finer points of Alissa's singing. That's because I am in general not a fan of this type of vocal and nowhere near familiar enough with it to properly critique it. But she can certainly sing. And write. She's also seriously hot, which helps and I don't care who says it's not about that. Put her up against Alison “Alf” Moyet, there's no comparison and I know who I'd rather watch perform live. “Avalanche” has a kind of marching, warrior feel to it with some almost Power Metal guitar in there and some fine solos, a militaristic drumbeat driving much of it.
The album comes to a close with two tracks, one of which is “Down to nothing”, with a heavy, hammering percussion and squealing guitars that nevertheless have that semi-neoclassical idea behind them, and the closer then is another instrumental. If I were reviewing this album on its own merits then I would point out the interesting, almost amusing fact that there's a bonus track which is a cover of, of all people, Mike Oldfield's “Shadow on the wall”. But as I'm not, bollocks to that.
TRACKLISTING AND RATINGS
1. Tempore nihil sanat (Prelude in F Minor)
2. Never forgive, never forget
3. War eternal
4. As the pages burn
5. No more regrets
6. You will know my name
7. Graveyard of dreams
8. Stolen life
9. Time is black
10. On and on
11. Avalanche
12. Down to nothing
13. Not long for this world
Like I say, I'm not the best person to evaluate a vocal performance like this, but I can tell you I didn't hate what I heard, and Alissa must have some rare talent to be able to sing like that as a female, so she certainly deserves some respect. It would look like she's going to fit right in to her new role here.