Entertainment One LTD
Whether it’s an epitaph with wings or a trite professorial note pencilled into the margins of your final exam I’ve Failed You is a title that refuses to be overlooked. Fifteen years into the business of churning out brackish heavy metal with a wickedly feminine twist sisters Mercedes and Morgan Lander seem more determined than ever to prove they can run with the big boys. Engineered by Siegfried Meier the same man behind the curtain who pulled the strings for the London Ontario-based outfit’s 2009 release In the Black Kittie’s latest effort screams for attention. Coming out with guns a blazin’ drummer Mercedes and rhythm guitarist-vocalist Morgan lay into the opening title track with howls of “Look how I’ve failed you.” Venomous caustic and brutally fast-paced the album launches into an old-school metal-edged breakdown. Virtuosic guitar runs riddled with merciless hammer-ons and nail-biting downturns provide the perfect pasture for “We Are the Lamb.” An anthemic passing of the thrash metal torch from one generation to the next this lyrically expressive yet technically competent number draws directly from Lee Aaron’s handbook for fur-clad femme fatales. “Whisper of Death” triggers a reluctant cascade of Evanescence-style vocals complete with slashing grief. Indeed the hard-groovin’ harpies soar to the top of the cathedral dome thanks to the mathematic retracing of some Slayer-like constructs. The slower-paced “What Have I Done” proffers meaty mammoth-sized chops that recall The Sword’s majestic overtures. All lip gloss over demon fangs the fishnet quartet ventures into nigh prog territory on “Empires I & II” while a slavish “Come Undone” rises up with riotous insurrection. Further on the golden shackles of “Never Come Alone” glaringly contrast the endearing liveliness of the three-minute juggernaut “Ugly.” Pushing back from the drum machine the wraith rager “Already Dead” growls at silence but could really use a 50-proof shot in the dark. Inextricably locked in a battle between the harsh and the lovely these self-deprecating brides of death seem to yearn for freedom rather than oblivion. Empires may fall but stereotypes will endure.
