HYSTERICA – Metalwar

Women in Metal are a driving force to be proud of. Female artists such as Doro Pesch, The Great Kat, Sabina Classen and Angela Gossow are only a fragment of the rising number in the all girl or part girl Metal groups.

In 2005 the all girl band Hysterica rose and began their attempt on finding a piece amongst the muscular world of men which is an element, that in many ways, defines Metal (Manowar is one of the best examples).

Unlike acts such as Phantom Blue or Vixen, Hysterica chose to be more aggressive, extra violent with a direct course to challenge the world of men. Their manner is very similar to Manowar, in a modern way, with additional patents of Hard Rock rhythms. From their nasty demeanor it’s safe to declare that their desire is to sweep their challengers of the fit by attempts of being catchy and direct.  Metalwar is their first staging which was independently released and it is surely an eye catcher. Nevertheless, Hysterica’s simplicity on the music and their iron will present a clear message, which is occasionally rather banal, in many cases turning against them.

It is unknown how skilled the girls are with their song writing abilities.  As for their performance, they fulfill their roles with excellence, accuracy and their product came out a powerful one. The vocal section, manned by the young Anni De Vil, is an absolute killer and she channels her tough attitude all around the album.

Aside from their performance, we are back to square one, which is the song writing skills, a subject that is divided into lyrics and music. As for the lyrics, any band, men or women, can write the simplest of lyrics without any point at all (check out the Heavy Glamsters Steel Panther’s banter and some of the lyrics written by Dream Evil). On Hysterica’s debut, sometimes it sounds a bit too much , because one can guess that they didn’t come here to fool around or make jokes , but they came to protect and preserve Traditional Heavy Metal as a womanly group should. “Metalwar” and “Heavy Metal Man” comes to mind in that matter.

As for the music, again there are lots of bands whose will is to keep the music flowingly simple as it goes, without techy stuff or progressiveness of any kind of way. Hysterica are playing ultra-fundamental stuff, most of it is a recreation of a recreation. Their choice to play Heavy Metal in a B scale is a profound choice, yet if you use that scale you will have tons of options for riffs and nothing is done here by the girls to be a bit more diverse. Moreover, there is a sense of repetitiveness among several of the songs that would be noticed after a close listen. These kinds of problems affect the songs and turn some of them into monotony events. To emphasize it more, check out songs in the vein of “Bless The Best” , which has huge potential , and “Wreck Of Society” , another track that with some work would have shred.

Hysterica is not trying, in their Traditional Metal way, to totally bring you back to the 80s. These girls had their mind set into a modern type of Heavy Metal , yet they tried producing it without breaking its original old code. That code was well maintained as far as Metalwar is concerned. Besides its faults Metalwar presents a few good songs and several great moments. “Halloween” is the band’s greatest of tracks and they should cling on to it tightly, this one is melodic, catchy, somewhat mysterious and well performed. Anni De Vil is marvelous in this one. “Got The Devil In Me” is another ground breaker with a small glance to the 80s era. “Girls Made Of Heavy Metal” , “The Bitch Is Back” , “Metalwar” , “We Are The Undertakers” , all which have some great moments in them inspired by nice melodic sections , solos and a well done vocal ability.

Although Metalwar is not a picture perfect of a release. Try listening to these girls because of all the girls act out there , these beautiful creatures do it with a warrior’s style without a hint of weakness.