The picture of a naked chick in a black bathtub on the cover always works. When the naked and amply tattooed bird happens to be the singer of the band, there’s even more fuel for the imagination.
But as much as you sometimes let yourself be influenced by the cover, it’s the music it’s all about. Hand on arse…I mean hand on heart, the debut album from this Swiss threesome almost demands a couple of radio tits, errr, hits.
No, seriously, ‘War on the Inside’ is by no means a rock revolution, but that is not to say that the three-piece doesn’t have anything to offer us.
Tracks like Ex Nihilo and Judas Goat have elements of slow and dogged darkness, yet in the case of Ex Nihilo with a touch of pop that pleads radio. Judas Goat sees singer/guitarist Nina doing a semi-growl along with her excellent clean vocal over a tune that is based on a Bolt-Thrower inspired riff.
Still, radio friendliness is the overall keyword for the album, both in sound and structure as well as length with most songs ended at the four-minute mark.
For the open -minded rock fan there is a fine mix of quiet pieces where Nina really shows us the strength of her voice (Wind Feed Fire), the straight-forward rockers (Dead Letter Office) and the more metal induced cuts (Judas Goat) as well as the beautiful semi-acoustic track A Ruse where Nina turns into an Alanis Morrisette of sorts.
Not only is this a fine album, I also have a feeling this band could be an experience to see live. Hope I get the opportunity some time. And, no, it’s not just because of the bird on the cover…
