This here is a filler album, that was made to fulfill a record contract. Two original members left, to go under the name Lefay, before this album was started. What a messy situation it must have been...

So, while this was done under the old name, it doesn't sound similar to old material, but only partly. While Morgana Lefay performed epic heavy metal between 1989-1996, here they sound like a mixture between their old bustle and North American alternative and groove metal stuff. This "book" could be judged by its cover. Looking at the cover where a shot is fired from a handgun, and comparing it to the early albums, as well as reading the song titles.

ML knew how to deliver heavy-sounding material earlier, and they still do it here. Riffing can be very hefty, crunchy and rather dark indeed, and there's a lot of string-twisting to be heard. Alternative metal style tremolo guitars, both riffs and leads, play a huge role. That bit sounds like Pantera, that one like Rob Zombie, and some Prong is heard there... Not bad influences, and combining these elements of old and new can sometimes sound functional here. Guitar solos also vary between melodic, traditional metal ones and noise. The drum delivery is forceful yet it sounds like a machine playing them. While there's old school Morgana Lefay here, the basis now lays on groove metal. And to tell the truth, if there was none of that ML of yore here, this would sound quite a dull record! Prince cover 'Darling Nikki' works well in this environment. Synthesizer was utilized to spice up the things a bit. Yeah, only a bit.

The vocals are raspy and semi-melodic, but not very angry (the music itself isn't very angry, actually). They remind me of not so rabid Alexi Laiho (Children Of Bodom), and even those "ya-ya-yaaa" screams are in. Sometimes the vocals have more Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) approach, and on the other hand, more bluesy stoner vibe. It sounds like a big part of the vocals were put through some effect box. There are just a few cleanly sung lines. Maybe the lyrics didn't have enough quality, so they aren't printed. Just guessing that by reading those imaginative song titles such as 'Pain', 'Rage' and 'Hate'.

The weakest trait of the album is its production job, which simply sounds garbled. Sometimes it gets clogged, thanks to too many effected instruments and vocals. Most of the elements are just mixed to front, eating each other's space. Some stuff simply sounds like it's badly shadowed, maybe even forgotten under everything else. So, the balancing didn't happen while mixing the album. The album ended up sounding like a demo, such raw is it. Yeah, it might sound heavy, but it's heavy in the wrong way now. Somebody forgot to give it some plunger...

The opener is partly like old Morgana Lefay, but after that the band moves deeper into groove/alternative metal territory. As mentioned earlier, this "book" can be read by its cover. But at some points the music does work surprisingly well. It's just bollocks that the style is so different when compared to the original one, because now it's bypassed by the band's fans as well as by the ML members themselves, and I wonder how many likely listeners found this interesting mixture of genres...

PS. Lefay released three albums and after those, Morgana Lefay was reformed in 2004. So, there's more epic, dark heavy metal for you all!

Rating: 6 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
12/04/2016 17:11