Huntress Releases Third Studio Album
Do you like metal? Like heavy metal in its classic and pure form? Huntress is the band we’ve been waiting for. They are a group which hearkens back to the old glory days of Heavy Metal, in such a fresh and vibrant way in which we haven’t seen since Dio or Judas Priest. I first heard them back in 2012 while scrolling down Napalm Record’s Youtube site. The single Eight of Swords from their first album Spell Eater blasted my face off as their lead singer Jill Janus opened the song with a crazy scream and each time the song ended, I had to click the repeat button over and over.
The Maiden, Mother, and Crone
Huntress was formed when Janus moved to LA and joined up with an underground metal band Professor, which I’m assuming was made up from a bunch of real metal nerds because Huntress sounds like you would find their record between Judas Priest and Iron Maiden in a stack of your older brother’s vinyl collection. That’s part of the reason why I love them so much, they are classic metal in its purest form. The metal scene seems so bogged down these days with all its cliques and sub genres (don’t get me wrong, I love me some Norwegian Black Metal or Gothic Doom), but sometimes a guy just needs some of that good ol’ Heavy Metal! Huntress wastes no time scratching that itch. Janus annihilates on vocals and she compliments the band with a really big sound. Janus also switches up themes and alter egos with each album and portrays them onstage during concerts: The first album, Spell Eater, features a sense of youthful growth and innocent experimentation, while the second, Starbound Beast, shows maturity, grace and experience. This time, though, it’s time to release the evil crone, a malignant hag who wishes to bathe the world in suffering.
The Maiden, Mother, and Crone
Starbound
Huntress’ second album Starbound Beast was released in 2013 and was a wildly amazing improvement on their first effort. The album was much tighter and artistic and you could really tell a lot of creativity and hard work went into creating it. Starbound Beast was a labor of love and it turned up in the product. Janus’ classically opera trained vocals really drove the album as pitch perfect beauty descended into guttural snarls and bone crushing screams. Starbound Beast is truly a masterpiece. Do yourself a favor, buy or order this album, you won’t be disappointed!
Static
Their latest album, Static, was released on September 25th 2015. It features Blake Meahl and Eli Santana on guitars, and Tyler Meahl on the drums. The members of the band have pretty much all changed for this last effort though and I was worried that we might be dealing with a whole different animal. Even though Huntress has had some line-up changes since their last album, the sound remains true to its roots. The sound is a bit cleaner and technical, but it still works with Janus at the helm. She is the heart and soul of the band and with her 8 octave punch, she can still bring the power. Static brings us that awesome mix of tasty brutal guitar licks and face melting vocals with just the right touch of horror and sex that makes the album a well rounded and solid metal masterpiece.
Static achieves what most great metal albums have done; take you on an epic audio journey. The album raises you up and them slams you down and kicks you around with awesomely macabre beauty. Huntress has repeated it’s artistic masterpiece with Static, and I would recommend any metal purist to check them out.
