Wednesday, February 3rd 2010
Reviews: Priestess
Priestess Stick To Their Guns, For Better Or Worse
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
This sounds right up my alley. Thanks.
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/
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.
prior to fire lacks the catchy melodies that hello master had. but is more technical and darker. less up beat. more sabbathy. The music is great. but the vocals are kinda boring at times. i think it’s a good record though. hello master is easier to listen to if you don’t appreciate the technicalities of the song writing, but if you do this album is right up your alley. if you like the new priestess Check out the band Doomriders, The Sword and Truck Fighters first record Gravity X.