Madder Mortem - Deadlands
- Released: 2002
- Label: Century Media
- Rating:
When Madder Mortem was first described to me, I was told they were “metal with chick vox”. Indeed, Madder Mortem could be described in such a way. Now, let me tell you what I find wrong with this description.
When it comes to the “metal with chick vox” that I listen to, I’m pretty closed minded about it. I tend to compare everything to The Project Hate. Before I listened to Deadlands, I was expecting really heavy guitars, fast-paced drums, and heavenly female vocals. Instead I got something completely different – generic nu-metal riffing and drums, and vocals far from angelic. The vocals remind me, sadly, of Cher’s music from the 70’s. Agnete gives off a “I am woman, hear me roar” vibe and seems detrimental to the music. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of those who can sing opera-style and similar to it, but I just don’t think that type of singing should be mixed in with guitars and drums. Keep that at the theatre.
When creating a band, it’s usually best to put multiple elements together and make them a cohesive unit. With this band (and it seems with many other female-led bands) however, it sounds like the band is entirely focused around the vocals. With a band like Evanescence, this works (for me) because the vocals are really appealing and keep your focus off of the average guitar work and drumming. However, with Madder Mortem, since the vocals are uninteresting it gets you listening to the rest of the things going on, which is a bad thing. I didn’t find anything particularly interesting about the guitars or the drums. It sounded like your basic, generic, nu-metal crap. Maybe I’m completely missing an element here, but I doubt it.
I think that maybe Madder Mortem were going for a different approach to their music and vocals which earns them points in my book. However I am just not a fan at all of the vocal style presented and thus disapprove of this band. Give Deadlands a listen and see if you appreciate what they’re trying to do.
Link: maddermortem.com
Farlus | 05/12/2003