{"id":28468,"date":"2013-03-25T11:18:28","date_gmt":"2013-03-25T16:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=28468"},"modified":"2014-02-08T08:34:08","modified_gmt":"2014-02-08T13:34:08","slug":"pretty-maids-motherland-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2013\/pretty-maids-motherland-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Pretty Maids | Motherland<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– News Editor \/ Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"PrettyFresh from celebrating their 30th anniversary with a massive live CD\/DVD set and extensive touring (including their first ever US appearance), Danish melodic metal heroes Pretty Maids are back with a new studio album, titled Motherland<\/em>. It\u2019s the band\u2019s 12th studio album (or 13th, depending on how you count the acoustic Stripped<\/em>), and it follows what has to be considered one of the band\u2019s best ever albums, 2010\u2019s Pandemonium<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Expectations are understandably high with any new Pretty Maids album. They\u2019re one of the most consistent bands around, and Pandemonium<\/em> was a near flawless release. Fortunately, with Motherland<\/em>, the band has delivered a more than worthy follow-up. Everything you expect (and love) about a Pretty Maids album \u2013 Ken Hammer\u2019s melodic guitar work, Ronnie Atkins\u2019s unique smooth\/heavy vocals, the steady rhythms and perfect amount of keys \u2013 is present and accounted for on Motherland<\/em>, and the band seems to have taken the energy and momentum from their recent touring and channeled it right into these songs.<\/p>\n

Motherland<\/em> has a great mix of the kinds of songs Pretty Maids does so well. There are full on heavy metal numbers (see lead-off single \u201cMother of All Lies\u201d and the patriotic \u201cMotherland\u201d) and slower, gorgeous love songs (like \u201cWasted\u201d and \u201cBullet For You\u201d) that are worthy of an AOR album. It\u2019s the songs where these two styles meet that the album really takes off; moments like \u201cWhy So Serious\u201d and \u201cSad To See You Suffer.\u201d Heavy, light or in-between, the melodies, musicianship and vocals all shine on Motherland, and there\u2019s really not a song that\u2019s less than terrific.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth mentioning that lyrics to some of the songs on Motherland<\/em> are fairly political. Not all of them (the love songs are quite clearly love songs), but some of the heavier tracks like \u201cMother of All Lies\u201d and \u201cTo Fool a Nation\u201d have a decidedly right wing message. How much this affects you is probably going to depend on your own point of view, but it\u2019s not overt enough to keep anyone from simply enjoying the songs.<\/p>\n

Go ahead and reserve a spot on your \u201cbest of 2013\u201d list. With Motherland, Pretty Maids continues their already impressive legacy and proves once again why they\u2019re the leaders of the melodic metal pack. Motherland<\/em> has no chance of disappointing long-time Pretty Maids fans, and it\u2019s the kind of album that will make instant converts out of new listeners as well.<\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nRonnie Atkins (v)
\nKen Hammer (g)
\nMorten Sandager (k)
\nAllan Tschicaja (d)
\nRene Shades (b)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tMother of All Lies
\n2.\tTo Fool a Nation
\n3.\tConfession
\n4.\tThe Iceman
\n5.\tSad To See You Suffer
\n6.\tHooligan
\n7.\tInfinity
\n8.\tWhy So Serious
\n9.\tMotherland
\n10.\tI See Ghosts
\n11.\tBullet For You
\n12.\tWho What When Where Why
\n13.\tWasted<\/p>\n

Label: Frontiers Records<\/p>\n

Website: www.prettymaids.dk<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 9.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – News Editor \/ Senior Columnist — Fresh from celebrating their 30th anniversary with a massive live CD\/DVD set and extensive touring (including their first ever US appearance), Danish melodic metal heroes […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8704],"tags":[336,374,3439,1108,334],"class_list":{"0":"post-28468","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-arcrvws2013","7":"tag-cd","8":"tag-frontiers-records","9":"tag-melodic-metal","10":"tag-pretty-maids","11":"tag-review"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28468\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}