Aussie Rock these days isn’t in bad shape at all, not only are the old guard doing particularly well but the new kids on the block are kicking up a storm too. It’s just a shame that the live scene down-under suffers from ridiculous licensing laws and beer priced to drive live venues out of business and make a ‘night out’ (something you can do with regularity in Europe or the US) a real investment. Live music is a social animal and if we don’t look after the small local venues then we’ll continue like cattle to the ‘enormodomes’ till the last dinosaurs de out never to be replaced.
What does this have to do with local Melbourne band Shadowqueen? Well it’s band like this that we should all be getting out to see. The problem is that Melbourne now pretty much has the world’s most expensive beer and cigarettes (not that we’d recommend the latter of course, and the former only in moderation).
Four years after their wonderful debut ‘Don’t Tell’ Shadowqueen is back with the same great vocals (Robin Zana is such a talent), huge bold riffs and more life and energy than you’d find in a half dozen other bands from cities with more reasonable prices!
The thing that always set Shadowqueen apart from their contemporaries was the sheer strength of their material and their uncompromising approach to presenting those sounds in the best possible way, and here again the production is top notch. The other thing I liked about their debut was that they didn’t take the simple route and some of the compositions on this record stray into what I’d call ‘accessible Prog’ territory, but don’t worry it works and wrings the best out of the songs, pushing them further than most.
We start off with a belter of a track in ‘Ruin Me’, and after the confident blast of ‘open Up Your Eyes’ and the swagger of ‘Waiting On You’ you know it’s another more than competent effort from Shadowqueen. If you’re a fan of internationals like Halestorm and modern hard rock that takes a few chances along the way these guys are well worth a listen. Try ‘Tonight’ and closer Stars’ to seal the deal. Impressive stuff.
