“Undress Your Madness” is Pretty Maids’ highly anticipated follow up to 2016's critically and commercially successful release “Kingmaker", a record that continued the “revitalized” path that the band set out upon with the now stone cold classic albums “Pandemonium” and “Motherland." It's always difficult to follow a successful and inspired record, but “Undress Your Madness” shows Pretty Maids are still in the freshest and most vital phase of their career since the early 90’s.
"I think the new album is a kind of continuation of what we’ve done the past ten years,” says singer Ronnie Atkins. "I’m really happy about the way it turned out 'cause there’s a lot of good songs on it in my humble opinion and it’s probably even more melodic than our previous efforts.”
The production, as always, is absolutely stellar thanks to Jacob Hansen (Volbeat, Amaranthe, Kobara And The Lotus), who has given the band a sound that not only reinvigorates them, but also incorporates the beloved soundscapes of the past. Modern and classic at the same time, if you will. "It’s just a match made in heaven I think. There’s a great chemistry between us, we share the same humor and thoughts about what a good song is, so there’s a lot in common,” continues Ronnie. "Quite simply the most gentle and easy going guy I've ever worked with.”
What can then be said about Ronnie Atkins and Ken Hammer? One of the best songwriting teams in the genre, hands down. Atkins' voice just gets better and better as the years go by. Menacing and vicious one minute, melodic and soothing the next. Likewise, Hammer is on fire here and lays down some of his heaviest riffs in recent memory. Rene Shades' bass playing is as thunderous as ever, propelling the incredible rhythms of the songs along with the superb drumming of Allan Sørensen, who's playing matches perfectly with what each song calls for. Chris Laney's keyboards add a wonderful texture and nuance to these brilliant compositions, tying everything together in the perfect package.
Every track on this beauty is worthy of your attention, whether it is an in-your-face barn burner such as the storming opener “Serpentine,” the title track, and “Black Thunder” or timeless melodic metal anthems such as “Firesoul Fly" and “Will You Still Kiss Me (If I See You In Heaven)”, or even a superb power ballad like “Shadowlands”.
“The album was written in a very short period of time,” tells Ronnie Atkins. “Basically it was written in January, just prior to recording it in February this year. So everything was very fresh when we entered the studio, in fact, so fresh that some of the songs were hardly finished when we started, but it all fell into place as we preceded with the recordings.”
The final result is “Undress Your Madness,” a record that has everything that Pretty Maids fans could possibly ask for!
Tracklist:
1. Intro
2. Serpentine
3. Firesoul Fly
4. Undress Your Madness
5. Will You Still Kiss Me (If I See You In Heaven)
In this episode, PRETTY MAIDS singer Ronnie Atkins discusses the band's fantastic new album KINGMAKER, KISS, working with famed producer EDDIE KRAMER (KISS, Jimi Hendrix, etc.) and Metallica producer Flemming Rasmussen, guitarist Ken Hammer, the band's history, the North American market place, NORDIC UNION and much more.
QUOTES from the interview:
Making new music (time 1.20): "When you are ten years (old), you dream about making music that people would like and go on the road and play it live in front of people. That motivation is still there."
The band KISS (4.58): "I remember the first album I bought from KISS was DESTROYER - to me still that's a great album. It's just one of the great albums from my childhood.
Eddie Kramer as a producer (6.36): "I think we expected something else. For a band from Denmark - the record company wanted us to have an American producer, so Eddie Kramer's name came up and he had a pretty good CV (like KISS, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and stuff like that). He was a very nice guy but for producing an '80s hard rock/heavy metal band - he was a little over the hill to be honest."
Pretty Maids fans will need no convincing – but those still unfamiliar with the band would do well to check this out – it's an excellent quality album, with terrific songs and a high energy burst of European melodic hard rock.
Danish melodic metallers Pretty Maids seem to be on a pretty good run in recent years. I have enjoyed their last few albums that have come via Frontiers and this is no exception. This is not a completely new album but consists of seven re-recorded classic songs from the 1995 - 2006 era plus four brand new songs specially written for this record. There are some minor tweaks to those old songs, not to mention all of them taking advantage of a better production quality and technology.
This is yet another barnstorming, high energy, melodic metal release that blows the speakers apart. The four new songs are indication that all continues to go well within the band as they continue to age with maturity without ever looking like getting soft.
Deranged is a hard edge moody rocker with a great guitar sound and raspy powerful vocal and chorus that steps up the pace another notch or two.
My Soul To Take is one of the band's most melodic tracks ever – a brilliant little feel-good melodic rock anthem.
Nuclear Boomerang on the other hand, is one of the band's heaviest – a double kick drum driven hard rocker with a menacing edge.
A Heart Without A Home is another cracking melodic rock tune – a beautiful ballad with one of Ronnie Atkins' best vocals to date.
