Wednesday, February 1, 2012

MORGANA: "Rose Of Jericho"


Rating: 5/10

Label: NadirMusic 2012

Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

Truth be told, a quick glance at the cover and I definitely expected this to be yet another 'Goth' CD with a female vocalist. Low and behold, this is old skool and the Morgana woman sang in a Heavy metal band already back in 1983 (at the age of barely 16) and she's been a part of the Italian underground metal scene ever since. Morgana actually signed a recording contract with a semi-major German label and moved over there in early 1992. Well, you all know what happend to the genre during those years (and no, I'm not talkin' about WWII).

"Rose Of Jericho" is a collaboration with guitarist Tommy Talamanca from the band Sadist. The result is meant to be something inbetween the blunt approach of early Warlock/Sadist and Lita Ford/Cher. However, do not expect to find a lot of perfect gems as the album is void of really strong melodies. If you search through the 'Rose of Jericho', I'd say that chances are one in five that someone stumbles into its actual body of work. It's sort of hidden amongst a garden of clichés, where it's sometimes difficult to tell apart the real Morgana from the average karaoke singer.

The melodies are more or less all steeped in the mid-tempo formula that block the opening to a proper metal party. "Lady Winter" is a proper tune though and I enjoy the acoustic version a lot more than its 'metal work'. The ancient "Bang Bang", originally performed by Cher in the sixties, works out okay, but was more enjoyable when the plastic lady re-recorded it during her 'Sambora' era. So-so.

www.morganadelaude.com/

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