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Tracklist
1. I Am The Night, Colour Me Black
2. Lay Down
3. Run Home
4. Two Kids
5. Talk To Her
6. Time Will Cut You Down
7. Everything That You Are
8. Shakes, The
9. Performance
10. Living Like A Dog
11. No Real Pain
12. Blood
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Priestess is a band that just got singed to a major label deal this year, but if you listen to their debut album 'Hello Master' you might think that they got signed twenty-five or thirty years ago. This quartet from Montreal Canada takes influence from an array of legendary seventies rock bands like Deep Purple, The Who, and Cheap Trick with just a little dash of modern influence. They have also come along way in a somewhat short amount of time career wise. Their debut album 'Hello Master' was originally released on an inde label in 2005, and then it was remastered, remixed and re-released by major label RCA with a year. They have also kept busy touring with the likes of Dinosaur Jr., Nashville Pussy, and Gwar.
Despite the fact that there has been a resurgence of new music that sounds old lately, Priestess is still hard to classify. They don't fit in with the slew of bands currently on the radio that sound like the Clash meets Depeche Mode; nor are they as trippy and wandering as the Zeppelin influenced bands like the White Stripes and Queens of the Stone Age. This is because Priestess experiments a lot style wise, creating an interesting blend of seventies stoner fuzz and modern alternative rock that is quite good. They have a knack (no pun intended) for catchy crunchy riffage, heavy rhythm sections, and glam rock fun.
The first track on 'Hello Master' 'I am the Night, Colour me Black' starts with some heavy drums and then a chunky, fuzzy, heavy rock riff. Then the squealing lead guitar kicks in with he glam-ish vocals and you have a full-blown hard rock hit ala 'Smoke on the Water'. The next few songs continue in this same heavy, stoner rock vein with tracks like 'Talk to Her' having that catchy, groovy, riffage of The Who or the less legendary Golden Earring. The song 'Time Will Cut you Down', the ballad on the album, combines elements of the seventies hard rock ballads of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Sunset Strip glam of the eighties.
On the song 'Performance', which comes later in the album, Priestess changes things up a bit. It almost makes the listener feel like 'Hello Master' is a musical journey from the late seventies to early eighties. 'Performance' has an almost alternative sound with very fuzzy guitars, catchy, simple riffage and a lot less of the squealing guitar heard on other songs on the album. Another song that has this transitional feel is 'Blood'. 'Blood' is one of the best songs on the album though it is a big departure from the rest of the material. 'Blood' seems to blend the style of the previous tracks with a more modern alternative sound, which sounds like the direction Priestess' next album might take.
Those skeptical that Priestess is just another modern band that rehashes old sounds will be completely won over while listening to 'Hello Master'. Each song has nuances and intricacies below the fuzzy stoner rock surface that make Priestess stand out from the crowd and also makes the listener curious to hear what musical direction they will go next. The big buzz on Priestess will definitely continue to grow!
Review by: Colette Claire
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