SHADOWQUEEN – Self Titled

2012
By Shane Pinnegar
8/10

Shadowqueen’s debut album is a powerful and heavy melodic rock album that references classic, modern and traditional Aussie rock and has something for just about everyone (Though Bieber and Glee fans need not apply).

Hailing from Melbourne, female lead singer/bassist Robbi Zana has an uniquely earthy, rich and sweetly aggressive voice which isn’t a million miles from Suze DeMarchi’s in her Baby Animals heyday, but stands by itself with ease.

If this were the nineties a clutch of these songs would already have been all over rock radio and the charts, and Shadowqueen would already have done a few laps of Australia and a few forays overseas… sadly the playing fields have changed and the goalposts despatched to the furthest reaches of the galaxy.

None of that changes the fact that Shadowqueen have produced a pearler of a debut album. Check out the classic rock (with a hint of the nineties) Best Of Me, the hard rocking What You Want and the classy piano (also by Zana) intro to Prelude To Silence/Silence.

Throughout, Alex Deegan is rock solid pounding the drums, Zana’s bass throbs and rumbles, aimed squarly at the listener’s sternum, and wild card Si Hopman’s monstrous riffing channels Iommi, Thayil and Nugent in equal measure.

Paint Your Face channels all the indie rage of 90’s psycho chicks Morisette and Sharam, packaged up in a hard rocking shell, and album closer Get Off kicks out the jams to leave you breathless and shellshocked in the best possible way, ears still chiming with riff after glorious riff.

As a bonus, if you can lay your hands on single Don’t Tell, you’ll also collect extra track Wasted which alone is well worth the investment.

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www.shadowqueen.com.au

Category: CD Reviews