NIKKI PUPPET – Puppet On A String

How to make sure your album is only bought by people who really know about your band and your music, part 8: Nikki Puppet:

Take a name that is somewhere between silly and meaningless, and put it on a cover picture that makes no musical statement at all. And, just in case someone still feels tempted, give a few hints that would induce the idea of a musical genre – in this case Glam as the front cover lady has a bit of a Hair Metal flair, and does the word Nikki not make you think of the mighty Crüe? – but all are absolutely misleading. So, if someone picks up this CD from the shelf, he must have bought all others in the store already, or he read a review, or he is related to a band member.

In the midst of the many releases that are washed upon a Metal fan’s shores every month, it is difficult to understand how bands and record companies can come up with artwork like this. Luckily, with the abundance of new releases, also people more and more tend to check out reviews before they purchase an album, so that is where Nikki Puppet gets a chance now, as the album is definitely better than the artwork.

The band, consisting of two guys on drums and guitar and two ladies on bass and vocals, can look back on a demo recording, which lead to the release of Puppet On A String, their debut, which unfortunately dates back already to the end of 2005, but was now apparently re-released by Locomotive Records. Produced by Hermann Frank of Victory and Accept fame, the music is far from being Glam. The closest description would be a mixture of straight Hard Rock on the verge of Metal, with a few splashes of Punk Rock for good measure. That does not sound so highly original, but the mixture works in several songs. A pumping bass and simple, but effective, drum beats build the backbone for classic Metal riffing and a great Rock ’n’ Roll voice of Nicky Grunewald, who is definitely one of the better female singers in Metal.

The hard, raw opening trio of songs: “Puppet On A String,” “Sirens,” and “Syncronized” are straight, simple, and fast and will transform any club into a tropical sweat pit. The following “I Feel Unreal” is still good, but cannot quite hold up the level of quality of its predecessors, and with the mediocre ballad, “Grumpy Face,” the slower and less exciting part of the album starts. Almost at the end, one more track will make you lift your head – “Enjoy” is another piece of Rock aimed for your head that shows what the band is capable of creating. Unfortunately, with a total playing time of just over 33 minutes, and only half of the album being really enjoyable, this release is everything but a must buy. Nikki Puppet are always best when they push the pedal down, and the singer is great, but some flaws in the compositions suggest that one should listen to a song or two before sliding the cash across the counter.

Nikki Puppet are releasing a new album soon, and you may be curious if they will manage to create an album that contains more of the up-tempo rockers that they do so well. They are too good to go away unnoticed, and they would not be the first band that needs a few releases before they hit it big, but when they do, hopefully they will remember gems like “Sirens” and “Syncronized!”