Reviews > Priestess
Priestess Stick To Their Guns, For Better Or Worse
By Skwerl, February 3rd, 2010
It was a few years ago that I first discovered Priestess. Equal parts 70s classic rock and 80s hair metal, their debut album Hello Master spoke to my inner child (who’s still rocking a bandana and ripped jeans, with a flying V around his neck).
Unlike Wolfmother and The Darkness, they possessed full conviction in their calling, with not a shred of irony or facetious pretense. The album was an album lovers album, too. It held up on repeat, and every song had something to hook you by. I still play it often.
Yesterday, Priestess finally released their second full length, Prior To The Fire in the U.S. (it was released in Canada by Indica in October). And while Hello Master is a five-star album, Prior To The Fire is a painful, confusing disappointment.
Originally slated for March 2009 domestic release, when presented with the finished version, Columbia demanded that the band go back to the drawing board and “write more songs.” The band refused, ditched the label (who had paid for the recording), and went to an independent. We can give them credit for sticking to their guns, but we can’t fault Columbia for passing on an album about a tenth as powerful as their debut.
It pains me to pan such a promising band, and it goes against my instinct to suggest that the quality of their work has waned rather than waxed through a few years of touring and practice.
To be fair, there’s no shortage of skill on display in comparison to Hello Master, and Priestess doesn’t seem to have lost any sincerity. In interviews, frontman Mikey Heppner claimed that the band had attempted to integrate elements of progressive rock, drawing influences from television and movies. Yet it seems that in trying to tell stories and challenge themselves to be more than a rock and roll band, they lost sight of their most valuable merchandise.
There are hopeful moments: The gasoline powered verse riff of opening track Ladykiller, the solo / breakdown towards the end of Raccoon Eyes, the vicious intro to The Firebird. However, everything in between seems to exist only to set up the next hook, or soundtrack Heppner’s attempt at raconteuring. During these unstimulating passages, a listener finds his mind wandering, and his eyelids getting heavy. What’s most disappointing is that this fatal flaw was nowhere to be found in the band’s debut.
We tend to have high hopes and low expectations when a band readies a follow up to an impressive debut. Unfortunately, Prior To The Fire falls considerably short of both. Make no mistake though: Hello Master is worth checking out, and we hope this isn’t the last we hear of Priestess.
Prior To The Fire
February 2nd, 2010
TeePee Records
1. Ladykiller
2. Raccoon Eyes
3. The Firebird
4. Murphy’s Law
5. The Gem
6. Communicating Via-Eyes
7. Lunar
8. It Baffles The Mind
9. Sideways Attack
10. We Ride Tonight
11. Trapped In Space & Time
About Skwerl
Kevin "Skwerl" Cogill was taught his first computer programming language by his Mother's marijuana dealer at age ten. His first job involved hustling TicketMaster lines on behalf of a New Jersey concert ticket broker at age fourteen, followed by a job in graphic design shortly after graduating high school and trade school simultaneously in 1998. He built his first website in 1996 or so, and continues to do things the way they should be done, rather than the way everyone else does. He's a bit of an asshole, but he's fiercely loyal to fellow fans of good music.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Skwerl now resides in Los Angeles.
February 3rd, 2010 at 2:04 PM
I don’t why The Darkness is so criticized , they were technically great, had huge hooks and knew how to write great songs, they didn’t riff anybody off. And Justin was/is great frontman but above all Darkness so all about fun , and that is what rock n’ roll is about. Everytime I listen to Darkness I’m smiling , of course their second album sucked but “Permission to Land” is one of my favourite albums of 2000s because it is damm good. Priestess first album was great and might check it out. I don’t know if You at Antiquiet are familiar with Vains of Jenna. That’s a great band , they are kind of retro glam/punk rock but they are not Motley Crue/GN’R wannabes like so many bands playing that kind of music but have their unique style.
February 3rd, 2010 at 2:38 PM
i’ve heard of them. i’m assuming they suck because their nonsense “cool” sounding name is spelled wrong. eventually i will check them out. we’ll see.
sorry for the potshots on the darkness. they’re fun. but i actually liked hair metal non-ironically, so i give more credit to bands that take it more seriously, such as priestess as opposed to the darkness, steel panther, etc.
February 3rd, 2010 at 8:34 PM
Vains of Jenna are one of those hate/love bands , their album ain’t consistent but they have great songs and they are not afraid to record longer songs, so it is not like 3-4 minutes of mindless Motley Crue ripping I still can’t understand why there is such a big “cult” for those bands among Glam Rock/Hair Metal lovers majority of those bands suck badly, but Vains of Jenna has their own style and is mix of glam rock/punk which is cool.
Yeah I understand can’t get through Steel Panther , like two songs but their try to built their music around those stupid, obscure lyrics I liked “Crazy Bitch” by Buckcherry but Steel Panther is too much
February 4th, 2010 at 10:13 AM
well with veins of jenna and steel panther I think the band is more of an experience. It’s a fun show to go to, and the cds are more or less just a reminder or momento to those that have seen them live. you know, put on the cd and remember the show. The steel panther crowd seems more hipster oriented too.. Probably cause of the exposure from TMZ and the celeb guests.
as far as the darkness’ second album being less than the first, i think maybe it had to do with justin the singer being hooked on drugs and to top that off apparently he had some severe eating disorder. Must be hard towrite fun ironic party metal when you’re in such a dark place mentally. Last I heard he started a new band and the darkness was pretty much done
February 4th, 2010 at 10:39 AM
I don’t know Vains of Jenna has some kick ass tunes and that rock n’ roll attitude and sounding fresh for a Glam Rock band and they are serious about that , Steel Panther is all about show and they are on the line of mocking genre.
Yeah I think his drug addiction was the main problem, but he is back and running ,Justin new band “Hot Leg” has released album recently and it is heavier than Darkness but still a lot of fun and they’re working on 2nd album right now.
February 6th, 2010 at 5:46 AM
Have to agree with the reveiw here, seems like your experience with Priestess has pretty much the same as mine Skwerl, with just a few slight discrepancies..
I found that the album actually picked up more towards the end.. With “It baffles the mind” and “Sideways attack” in particular being a throw back to the simpler days Hello Master.
At first I was actually excited that they were evolving their sound, but as I listened more and more, it just seemed like they replaced that simple effective style, with more turgid and dull songs, even if on a technical level they were more impressive.
Again Hello Master’s lyrics were that little bit more silly, with the likes of Run Home having the pefect lyrics to match that great rythym.
I think it’s one of the first times I’ve actually wanted a bands creative direction to remain static, but I’d be very suprised if most people don’t yearn for the original’s charm after a few listens of this.
February 9th, 2010 at 6:05 PM
This sounds right up my alley. Thanks.
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:11 AM
I have to disagree! I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen a show, but this album kicks ass live. They’ll be out your way in April, go check it out. I do believe they were signed with RCA, but you’re the cool rock writer! \m/
March 8th, 2010 at 7:32 PM
I just had to write to state that I wholeheartedly disagree with this review! I’ve been turned onto some great music through Skwerl’s reviews but I guess I’m just not hearing this record the same way he did.
I too really enjoyed Hello Master’s immediacy and simplicity, but there are a lot of bands that do simple and immediate stoner rock with aplomb. Not too many bands could have made Prior to the Fire, though.
I think these guys just set out to make a really cool, proggy 70’s-tinged metal album – perhaps influenced by contemporaries like Baroness, Mastodon, Torche, et al (they are touring with High on Fire and Bison right now)and in doing so have put a stamp on the genre that I don’t think any of those other bands could have made.
It’s not just the flashy musicianship – we’ve all heard that before – it’s the way they put it all together and manage to craft SONGS while still bringing enough epic riffs inside 5-minute increments to keep my ADD-addled brain amused from start to finish over and over…
I’ve already said too much. I just really enjoy this record.