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Track Listing: Riding On The Edges Desert Rose Home In The Sun Poison Path Black Vigil Omega Stone

Christian Mistress released their debut full-length "Agony & Opium" late last year, and even though it's been a while since its release, I would deem myself a failure if I didn't end up writing a review of it, for this band clearly deserves the recognition and I feel it's my responsibility to spread awareness among those that are unfamiliar with the band.

"Riding On The Edges" gets the album off to a delightful start. Pristine vocals, guitar harmonies, solo trade-offs and galloping bass licks at a fast pace, this is traditional metal at its purest, and when I listen to it, I feel that it's being played with a lot of heart. Christine's masterful performance on vocals makes me wonder why this combination of traditional metal and female vocals hasn't been tried before, because it comes across to be as natural of a musical fit as there could ever be.

"Desert Rose" is slower and slightly darker in it's aura, but as enjoyable as any other track on the album, and it certainly goes well with the flow from the first track to the third. My favorite song on the album, "Home In The Sun" comes next. If I start describing how good this song is by using a bunch of adjectives, I'd run out of them in no time at all. There are very few things to have come out of the music world recently that I've enjoyed quite as much as I enjoy the combination of vocals, riffs and harmonies on this song, every time I listen to it.

"Poison Path" performs the monumental task of following a tune like the one I just talked about, and does it with thumping success. It features yet more sweet traditional goodness, and is abundantly rich in ear-pleasing guitar harmonies. "Black Vigil" serves as an interesting follow-up, in the sense that it's much more compact than any of the other tunes, while musically still offering enough.

"Omega Stone" starts off in a ballad-like manner but soon builds up to a crescendo that befits this album. The ballad part showcases Christine's vocals in full glory, and she displays her prowess beautifully. A worthy ending to a fantastic album.

Overall, Christian Mistress' debut effort is going to be one of my favorite albums for a while, and will be in heavy rotation on all my music player devices. But it does leave me gasping for more, as it's a shortish album clocking at a total of 27 minutes and 37 seconds. They undeniably have a bit of Iron Maiden about them, but they have added plenty of their own flavor in the music to silence all the naysayers ready and willing to call it a rip-off.

This album is a true celebration of metal at it's purest. Stop whatever you are doing, get this album, and bask in traditional metal glory. \m/

Listen to "Home In The Sun" using our music player below!

Christian Mistress - Home In The Sun (Agony & Opium) by metalassault