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Sunday, September 05, 2010

Christian Mistress-Agony and Opium

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20 Buck Spin
2010

Hailing from Olympia, Washington Christian Mistress have previously knocked out a demo tap and a seven inch, but now we get a six song EP from them. They have received a lot of praise from both the press and other bands in their area. The approach is simple and not totally unique. They pull from NWOBHM influences including Angelwitch, Diamond Head and Saxon as well as other early metal sounds like Metallica's Kill 'em all and Mercyful Fate. Vocalist Christine Davis shines with her powerful and straight forward presentation. The guitars are a solid twin guitar attack with plenty of twists and turns. Both guitarist play off of each and help the strength of the songs. The production is stripped down and I would guess that was done on purpose, but I think a more full bodied production would actually have helped the release. I think the slightly dull production actually robs them of some the energy that they could have had. There are other current bands like Cauldron, Enforcer, Widow and others playing NWOBHM inspired metal, but the vocals of Christine Davis help to make Christian Mistress a little different. This is an impressive outing and I would certainly be interested in hearing what they accomplish once they release a full length effort.

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