Well, what’s the story then? It goes something like this. Front man, drummer Oliver Wittenburg, who also does the composing, decided on a new and more commercially acceptable direction. The band already had the musicians and had done some relatively melodic music, albeit of the Death Metal variety. So he goes out and finds a pretty little blond with a big voice and tries it out, musically I mean. Goes well, we do some writing, record the material, and wait for the results. Well, the results are coming in, and they are, for the most part, positive. The blond is Virginia Fantoni and she has a pretty good voice, and one that interacts well with this brand of relatively dark atmospheric gothic, metal. Is she at the top of the heap musically in this genre, probably not, but, with this band, that would only be a distraction, these are some pretty heavy hitters backing her up. She does just what she’s supposed to do, no more, no less. And she does it well.

The rest of the band: our man Oliver Wittenburg on the drums, Filip de Graeve on the keyboards, Jeremy Vasile on rhythm guitars, Vincent on bass and Frederic Ost on lead guitar, are seriously good musicians. This is as good a metal band as you’re going to hear, the guitars are solid as a rock and the keyboards take us to multiple locations. The drums are pounding and drive the music at every point on the road. They cover a variety of styles but, for the most part, its relatively solid gothic metal of the guitar based variety, just the way we like it. The keyboards provide the atmospheric sound that, sometimes, approaches the symphonic but always covers the required melodic base line. But, it is the guitars that take your breath away.

Glitter, geeze, what a seriously wrong title for a production of this quality, begins with an atmospheric opening called Face Your Mirror. It’s driven by the keyboards and the drums and sounds like the intro to a gothic science fiction movie. But it quickly segues into the second title Army of Agony. That title introduces us to the vocals of the lovely blond previously mentioned. This is a seriously good song, the vocals do what they’re suppose to do and cover the lyrical territory, the keyboards cover the required ethereal components, and the guitars wail over a pounding drum line. I could listen to this all day, and, on occasion, I pretty much have. There’s nothing like a pounding metal driving a haunting vocal to move you to writing good code, every programmer knows that.

Army is followed by a short keyboard intro to the following song, Voices (Why you can’t sleep). Here we go dark, seriously dark. This is where Virginia’s vocals drive the show, she has the dark side down pretty well and she drives the song over the crushing guitar riffs and the pounding drums with efficiency. MM has some pretty good technical people helping out on this work and this song features that capability as well as the musicians. The cuts are sharp, the vocals tight, the mix is perfect.

There are several relatively consistent titles that follow, they are good, they cover some interesting ground both musically and lyrically. Virginia interacts well with the guitars and backing instruments on these titles including Sleeping Beauty, Hollow Hearts, and This Sweet Indifference. But they break no new ground beyond the solid driving guitars over the equally solid drums that are a trademark of the band.

I was pretty much comfortable at this point, enjoying some really good atmospheric female fronted metal when I was jolted back to consciousness. The song was a thunder blast, something completely unanticipated. I may have mentioned that I went into this CD with low expectations, well, that included not looking at the title list. But, Russians was a complete surprise. For those of you not familiar with the title, it is a work originally written and recorded by the British Pop vocalist Sting, he of the British power trio The Police for those of you under the age of consent. It’s an anthem of the Cold War, a song that galvanized a generation and one that has rarely been done in concert much less recorded, its almost sacred ground. So, when I heard it here, I was stunned. But, as I listened, the words broke over me much as they had decades ago (am I showing my age). And, the background music did homage to the original, but with a female vocal that was as poignant as the original Sting vocals. Virginia sings:

If you weren’t there, it’s hard to understand. Just believe me, this was an important song, and bringing it back is a tough task. It’s to MM’s credit that they would take it on, and do such an outstanding job.

Following that highpoint, we return to another solid metal offering entitled Puzzled. Again, the vocals prove more than adequate but the song is carried by the background musicians. There’s a solid rhythm section and the sound is metal, really good metal. But the song that follows is even better. Maze of Shadows is an instrumental selection and, nothing against the lovely vocalist, but this is an opportunity for the instrumental musicians to shine. And they do. It’s a five and a half minute guitar driven opus that carries the work to a solid conclusion. Keyboards do their work, the drums drive the work forward, but it is the guitars that define this title.

MM has produced a first class work here, bad titles and all. I’m sure their previous works were just as strong, but, for us in female fronted metal land, this is one to savor. And look forward to much more in the future.

9 / 10