Label: Agualoca Records 2014
Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom
Gather around the bonfire! Bring out your grand piano, cello, ukulele, flugelhorn, classical guitar, and glockenspiel, it's time to replace your muddy mosh pit with the London/Naples-based acoustic trio which reinterprets famous Metal songs in the unique way and style. It's one of those *I remember when I first heard* moments as Driving Mrs Satan is something waaay different from your ordinary album of metal covers. And to be completely honest... I'm fed up listening to covers that sound exactly like the originals (only worse) anyhow.
Cleverly done and performed with love to the original genre as well as to the pure joy of transforming them into sophisticated, jazzy, at times almost medieval, indie pop numbers with sulky and sexy female vocals by Claudia Sorvillo. One thing's for sure. You have never heard the following songs performed quite like this before: "I Want Out" (Helloween), "Battery" (Metallica), "Killers, 2 Minutes To Midnight, Can I Play With Madness" (Iron Maiden), "Caught In a Mosh" (Anthrax), "Killed By Death" (Motorhead), "Hells Bells" (AC/DC), "Never Say Die" (Black Sabbath), "South of Heaven" (Slayer), "From out of Nowhere" (Faith No More).
There's been lounge albums with their versions of Metal anthems in the past (horrible ones), but not quite like this. Avant-garde or avant-pop? Completely different from the originals yet with the familiar structure and arrangement, the trio's playful interpretation of "Battery", "Can I Play With Madness" or "Never Say Die", gets the new meaning and dimension to the listener. Some tracks are better than others and it's clearly not your new all-time fave album. Nonetheless. The gentle sound gets to you and it's simply just nice to have this playing in the background. So now you know, Metal is Driving Mrs Satan only with the fuel of soft U.K. indie pop?
www.drivingmrssatan.com
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