Mandragora-Waves of Steel

Inferno Records
2017

Mandragora is a five-piece traditional heavy metal band from Nuevo Chimbote City in North Peru/South America. The group was formed in 2007 by bassist Jorge Mandragora and lead vocals come courtesy of Fatima Natthammer. The full-length "Waves of Steel" serves as the band's debut album and it sports a sound that is equal parts N.W.O.B.H.M. (especially Iron Maiden!), classic metal, and power metal. While it is nothing particularly groundbreaking, "Waves of Steel" does have it's moments as it points towards bigger and better things to come for this female-fronted metal band. Speaking of which, lead singer Fatima Natthammer is a bit hit or miss when it comes to her vocal delivery. When she sticks to singing everything is fine. The problem is her shrieks are painful. We're talking nails on a chalkboard bad here folks! With some professional training she could easily fix the issue, but we will just have to wait to see if that happens. Ultimately the grades break down like this. Musically this one gets a B. Vocally it is a C.