I'll be honest. Fastlane
Flower's album "Deadline" is probably going to cost you your man card. It's
pretty girly. And I hate almost all girly metal. But this album is really kind
of good in a guilty pleasure sort of way. It's real poppy and extremely vocally
driven. Let's break it down.
The vocalist has a number of different styles that she brings to the table. She
has pretty solid high range when she gets up there. The majority of the vocals
are in a comfortable mid-range, lacking any extreme element. She also has a
couple of tracks where she gets dirtier, in more of a punkish manner; these
aren't as good as her normal range though. Overall, the vocals are a big
strength though (especially in the harmonies brought to the table).
Lyrics I usually don't care too much about, but they're a little up and down.
The command of the English language isn't so strong in some places, which leaves
me scratching my head. It's a bit of detraction. And yet in other places, the
concepts are cool. "Agent to Chaos" seems to be about the Joker and Batman, and
it's one of the better songs on the album. There isn't much consistency in this
area, but for the most part, they aren't terribly well developed.
Musically, primarily the metal portion of the album sets the backdrop, but
there's some decent riffing throughout and in the few moments there's something
constituting an instrumental part, they deliver. Overall, the tone fluctuates
throughout, and there are some real soft sounding passages, which are good, but
are probably softer than the average metalhead is looking to tolerate. At times
the guitars have a Nightwish-esque feel to them (only they're not as good).
Still, the songwriting is generally a strength and there are some really catchy
songs on the album. I'm not huge on "Secret Archive", which is the song they're
really trying to bring the hardest edge to. But "Agent of Chaos" is pretty sick,
and I love "At the Rainbow's End". The harmonies evoked are novel and are
certainly diggable.
It's not flawless by any means, but for chick metal, it's pretty damn good. This
album could probably help you convert a non-metal chick to the dark side. And
you might like it yourself. You just need to hide it in the super-secret hidden
lair where your porn stash is situated so no one ever knows you have it.
