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Album Reviews : Shadowqueen – Living Madness

By on October 10, 2017

From the moment opener Ruin Me veritably bursts from the speakers, you know you’re in for a wild and ballsy rock n roll ride across 11 tracks on the newie from Melbourne female-fronted three-piece Shadowqueen. This is their sophomore album, and it finds them maturing, rocking even harder and truly finding their feet in a songwriting sense.

And whilst this album rocks and rolls with the best of them, it is no one-dimensional, ‘heard it all before’ blues-based rock album, there is some rather sweet variation and dynamics going on within the grooves of this record. They bring the bluesy raunch on Sacred Ground and Unconditional, the pop on Waiting on You, the alternative on Calling My Name (which reminds one of a band like Audioslave), and closer Stars fattens and slow-burns the groove and rounds things out in triumphant style.

Something else that stands out on this record is the production, everything just sounds so crisp, so sweet, so powerful. It is obvious much care has been taken with the sound on Living Madness.

Special mention must also be given to the performance and presence of frontwoman Robbi Zana. To say the delivery of her vocal lines is tough and sassy simply wouldn’t be doing it justice. She sings as if her life depends upon it, but is also just as capable of pulling it back to sexy, breathy moodiness when required as well. She is a vastly underrated Aussie vocalist.

This album kicks all manner of arse, and does so in a classy and interesting manner. It is well worth a few moments of your valuable listening time and a few bucks of your hard-earned.

Band: Shadowqueen
Album: Living Madness
Year: 2017
Genre: Rock
Label:  Independent
Origin: Australia

About

Rod Whitfield is a Melbourne-based writer and retired musician who has been writing about music since 1995. He has worked for Team Rock, Beat Magazine, themusic.com.au, Heavy Mag, Mixdown, The Metal Forge, Metal Obsession and many others. He has written and published his memoirs of his life and times in the music biz, and also writes books, screenplays, short stories, blogs and more.