Martina EDOFF: "WE WILL ALIGN"

RATING: RRRR

LABEL: AOR HEAVEN

REVIEW BY: ALAN HOLLOWAY

A couple of years ago I was mightily impressed by Poodles co-founder Martina Edoff's second solo album 'Unity'. It was stuffed full of strong melodic hard rock songs that were brought alive by Edoff's powerful, tuneful vocals. 'Kick ass powerful melodic rock' weree my exact words on this here website, and I'm glad to say they still apply to album number three.

Previously she has worked with fellow Swedes H.E.A.T to write songs, and here she teams up that band's keyboard maestro Jona Tee, as well as the likes or Erik Martensson and Billy Sheeham amongst others. The result is another strong album, albeit one that is most definitely heavier than it's predecessor. For those that own said album, 'We Will Align' is generally more in the vein of 'Never Let You Down', perhaps the crunchiest track on 'Unity'. So we have songs here that have a good, hard backbone, as well as a few more melodic ones, but what pins it all down are Martina's vocals. Once again she belts out everything and has quite accurately been called an 'Angry Ann Wilson', as there's alot of grit involved. Don't get me wrong - I like it. It all gets a little toned down in the middle with the excellent power ballad 'Face The Mirror', and closer 'Brand New World' is a slower, more epic sounding tune, but apart from these it's hard rocking all the way.

Once again, Martina Edoff has delivered a strong album with no weak tracks, which will appeal to anyone who likes a bit of female fronted melodic rock, sort of like Issa with more balls to it. There's no operatic arsing about, no ten minute epics, just straightforward catchy tunes with a strong hard rock backing (not heavy metal). So here I am again telling people to check out a Martina Edoff album whilst giving it 4 out of 5 - I have absolutely no problem with that, and nor should you.

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