Priestess is Grease, Smoke, and Beer Breath

This label rep from Ace Fu records emailed me straight out of the middle of nowhere last week, saying that not only was she promoting a loud, metal-influenced rock band, but she happened to LIKE my blog.

When it comes to this blog, flattery, no matter how transparent, will get you everywhere, people. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that she saw my Wolfmother writeup and the little masthead I put up there and confused this blog with one that is read by legions of adoring fans. Nevertheless, she sent me a free cd -- which, coupled with the compliment, pretty much guaranteed my undivided attention.

And you know what? The band is really good, too! And no, I'm not just saying that because I was thoroughly buttered up. If the album sucked like most of the bands that contact me through Myspace, I'd have dropped it altogether.

Priestess is a metal/loud rock quartet from Montreal, the sort of child that Sabbath and Slayer would adopt together if they could be gay parents. I know it's hard for many of you to imagine Sabbath or Slayer as gay, but one of them would have to be female for them to naturally give birth to Priestess, and that ain't happening either.

Priestess's new album is called 'Hello Master', and the cover shows this giant disembodied orange wizard hand reaching out from a rocky horizon. It's totally a Trapper Keeper cover designed by that dude from high school that started taking art classes because shop was full. The album itself sounds EXACTLY like this photo looks -- loud, pounding guitar-driven metally rock.

As one reviewer said of their performance at South by Southwest: "If you like Led Zeppelin and Slayer and you smoked pot in the bathroom in high school, you'll like Priestess."

That pretty much sums it up. They're loud and aggressive, and they just sound like they whip their hair around lots when they play. Priestess's sound is hardly new or innovative at all, and I'll bet a lot of music reviewers dismiss them for that. It's true: they're not coming up with anything new here at all, but you know what? I don't care.

Priestess is a really great cheeseburger and a Miller High Life after a long day fixing the car. Sure, it's not new and the formula's pretty obvious, but there's a sort of magic when someone delivers the goods in the right way at the right time. And just like that meal, Priestess has that magic -- just the right amount of smoke, grease and beer to hit the spot.

You can tell these guys just SMOKE live, too. DC readers, or the overly wealthy and ambitious among you abroad can catch these guys at the Black Cat, backstage this Thursday, 7/13. I'll be there.

If you want to download a free track,
click here. Although a perfectly good song and representative of Priestess's sound, it's not my favorite song from the album. I prefer the obligatory "woman-I-love-you-but-you-make-me-so-MAD" slow song that all metal albums must have -- a song called 'Time Will Cut You Down'. I NEVER like that song on any other loud rock album, either, but this one I've been humming in my head all week.

This link will take you to their Myspace page, where you can stream some more songs and see that album art I was talking about.

Otherwise, the story's pretty simple. If you like this sort of thing, Priestess is it. If not, hey, fair enough, but don't try to chew my ear off with some big long speech about how rock is dead, either.

posted by Jeff Simmermon @ 11:26 PM