| CD REVIEW Mab |
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Band : Mab This all-female Italian Metal 'n' Thrash band from the island of Sardegna was founded...err, I don't know whén they formed (because of lacking info), but what I dó know is that singer/ bassist Psycho Jeremy and drummer Jecky (real name Jessica Dionis) were there from the beginning. Beginnings which were rather difficult, as both girls missed instruments of their own, and for the first two years the girls set aside each eurocent (or were it still lire back then?) they could lay their pretty little hands on to get themselves a drum and a guitar (which Psycho Jeremy used to play at that time). Hey, maybe you'd like some details on the band name? You know, because when you check in on the girl's MySpace page (myspace.com:mabuk), you'll find their biography starting off with, "Mab is the Queen...Mab is a dark...Mab is the cutest...Mab is the mud... Inside the forest of wicked dreams... she turns your nightmares into music screams..."...and maybe you were wondering what all that was about? You see, Queen Mary is a fairy referred to in Shakespeare's tragedy play Romeo And Juliet (in a monologue by the Mercutio character), but she also appears in plenty of other 17th century literature (among which Ben Jonson's The Entertainment At Althorp, Michael Drayton's Nymphidia, and Poole's Parnassus, where she's Queen Of The Fairies and wife to Oberon)and in later poetry (Percy Shelley's Queen Mab: A Philosophical Poem), music (French composer Hector Belioz wrote a "Queen Mab scherzo" in his symphony Roméo Et Juliette),of drama and cinema...in several disguises (for more details consult Wikipedia – where I took this info from). Her origins are somewhat uncertain, and Shakespeare himself may have borrowed her name from a Celtic goddess (either the Irish Medb or her Welsh counterpart Mabb). Comparisons are possible with the Scandinavian Mara, whom also influences dreams. She's supposed to be this small tiny fairy which comes to people when they sleep, haunting their dreams by making them dream of things they want but cannot have. Mab is also the name of a small moon around Uranus, discovered in 2003, and originally named S/2003 U 1 (but that is besides the point, since the girls had picked their name well before). With that background in mind, maybe you'll understand the musical temptress act by that name a little easier as well, you see. Anyway, back to Psycho Jeremy and Jecky, who'd suddenly found consorts in guitarist Marina (Cristofalo) and bass player Martina. They learned to play their instruments all by themselves, took influences from Rock, Blues, Grunge, Heavy Metal, and even Opera, composed their first songs along the way, and started gigging all over their native island. Their first 13-track demo Nougat! was then released (and I'm sorry to say I still have no details dateswize) to real favourable response from both local and national media (at that time the music was mostly influenced by Grunge and Thrash, though other styles were also included), and followed by two EPs, one of which (I'm guessing the first) titled Unstable and released in 2003. Somewhere along the line they lost Martina, and after a couple of auditions to find a replacement for her the remaining trio came to the conclusion they'd never find anyone crazy enough to join 'em, so it was decided that Psycho Jeremy would take over bass duties...this generating significant changes in the band's musical direction. A final line-up change happened in London, where they met guitarist Lisa "DPLY" Masia was sufficiently stuck by lunacy to join the Sardenian outfit, and had the skills to add the new atmospheres which would become the band's trademarked "New Dark" sound! Today the girls reside in London, but I guess that before their final move to the UK, they got signed to Universal in Italy for the 2007 release of this, their debut album. So, you see, what we get here is really a licenced re-issue for the UK, Europe, and "rest of world". Recorded with the help of producer Guillermo "Will" Maya (known from his work with Breed 77 and Panic Cell), the album also contains a quite tasteful guest appearance by late '70s/ early 80s Goth Pop icon Lene Lovich (remember "Lucky Number"?) in the last verses of the track "Astrophel". Regretfully, that (and neither is album opening "Last Tango In London", which is the best proof of the girls' "innocent" taunting sexualities)is not one of the 5 songs (one off the 2003 EP) you'll find posted at myspace.com/mabuk, but those other tracks will also give you ample example of the girls' weird musical mixture. Proof of Lisa's prolific musical capacities come in the fact that she played the Glockenspiel and violin featured on the album. But she's also an incredible guitarist, as you will be able to hear from the tracks posted. Psycho Jeremy is a truly great singer, both in her "normal" mode as when she goes a bit rougher, or steps into a soprano bit. In the calmer moments she moves through her lyrics with sighs, moans and groans that are simply tantalizing (and certainly meant to be that way), and in a couple of the songs she gets the most angelic backings by one or more of the other girls. A couple of songs even get a sentence or passage done in the girls' native tongue. Not surprising then, that the girls already have tours with the likes of Breed 77 and Him under their belts, appeared on film in the 2007 Italian movie Niente E Come Sembra by director Franco Battiato (apparently already a cilt flick), and were the only band to play a show at David Lynch's Conference on Transcendental Meditation in Palermo last year. In essence, this is an album which needs to be heard in its entirety (and repeatedly so) rather than in parts, but what you can hear at the band's MySpace is at least enough to get acquainted with the girls' quaint but attractive music and chenanigans. One last detail about this album, which has only 9 songs listed but contains 10 tracks (the latter starting off with a short snippet from the album opener, then falling into silence for about two minutes, after which an unknown track (again with partial Italian lyrics) ends the album at 42 ½ minutes' listening time. Personally, I am already looking forward to Mab's sophomore album, writing and rehearsal work for which was started earlier this year...and the girls hope to enter a studio again come the end of October (but then they had also hoped to see this re-issue happening before and not after the Summer, so perhaps recordings have been postponed somewhat too)! Whatever you think of it, to me this is one of the year's essential buys (but then I spend way tóó much money on music...hàve to, seing as how eclectic a music listener/ fan I am), and am therefore ranking "Decoy" in my year-lists. Well...those of last year, since that's when the album was originally released, but still with the perfect rating! 98/100 Tony. |