Huntress ~ Starbound Beast (album review) ... Jack & Jill went up the hill & Jill lived to sing about it!

Style: heavy metal
Label: Napalm
Year: 2013
Home: Los Angeles, California

Members: Jill Janus ~ vocals
Blake Meahl, Anthony Crocamo ~ guitars
Ian Alden ~ bass
Carl Wierzbicky ~ drums

I'll confess when I see a leather clad or at least some leg showing front-woman with a heavy metal band I'm expecting to hear a Nightwish or Within Temptation wannabe. I love those bands, but the opera metal template hit its tedium limit years ago & jumped the shark, as is the phrase, & my interest is more often lost sooner than its found. There's not enough truly metal with all the dirt under the fingernails Lita Fords or Arch Enemies or Doros out there. The later doesn't show any cleavage & kicks far more ass in spades & is far sexier because of it, while Ford's Livin' Like A Runaway isn't just a highlight from her but one of the most emotional & angry albums & completely real. But, I'm happy to say that Huntress, both on their debut Spell Eater & their newest release Starbound Beast is going the way of Doro not the way of Nightwish & results I proudly can recommend after numerous listens. Of course, I should say, I don't mind the cleavage in the least & front-woman Jill Junus is sexy & doesn't have a problem using what she has, but I'm not reviewing youtube videos here but non-visual audios where choice in clothing means nothing. The key to Janus is she just uses what she has & that includes a set of Juilliard trained pipes & some good writing skills I'm sure were also fine-tuned in the Manhattan environment. While behind is four gentlemen who cull their riffage, which counts more than cleavage in a recording, from the traditional metal sound more in-line with Judas Priest or a bit of Iron Maiden than the modern power metal trends. Actually Doro & her days with Warlock are a good comparison to Huntress, particularly with Junus's occasional rasp that is more similar than not ... though at times she goes a bit too much Arch Enemy, but they are brief moments (for example, "Blood Sisters"). The chorus's aren't as sing-a-long as Doro usually presents, though. If you like the comparison you will certainly like this new album by Huntress. Actually, in listening to it a couple times I've enjoyed it equally with each listen & that probably says more than anything.