Artist: Hanging Doll
Title: Reason and Madness
Type: Album
Label: Once Bitten Music
Mention female-fronted metal, and the immediate temptation is to draw comparison with Nightwish, Leaves Eyes, Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil, Tristania, Edenbridge, Dark Sanctuary and co. With some exceptions you tend to know what you’re going to get. Hanging Doll belong to this club, falling into the gothic end of the rock spectrum. The slight waver in the singer’s voice gives it personality and helps to generate an eerie atmosphere, reinforced by the darkest of lyrics, among them: “Under blood ridden skies, reflect my eyes full of pain.”
‘Reason and Madness’ is not just about some warbling woman. The key lies in the strength of the songs, quality of musicianship and the effectiveness of the atmosphere. As an album, it doesn’t break down walls and for large parts it’s fluid rock with a Gothic attitude. ‘Blood Ridden Skies’ and ‘Forlorn’ have a swaying, lighters-in-the-air feel about them as they rock along. On ‘Sweet Retribution’ the background music serves to provide a dramatic setting for the vocalist’s flamboyance before developing into a progressive guitar passage. The 10 minute last track ‘Silence in Solitude’ has the movement of its predecessors and has the time to work into a sweeping soundscape, but for me the best track is ‘Echoes of Sorrow.’ It’s a pop type track, on which sad strains take us into a dual level vocal with male growls accompanying the angelic Goth vocals of Sally Holliday. The chorus is catchy. ‘Echoes of Sorrow’ is emotional and dreamy without being slushy, but although it’s a memorable track and it has the makings of a mini-drama; I hesitate to use the word ‘epic.’
This album goes down as smoothly as a pint of Guinness, or perhaps a pint of Banks’ as Hanging Dolls come from the West Midlands. There is a haunting quality about it thanks to those vocals, and the patient instrumental structures which allow them to flourish. There’s a nice variety in the tracks, but if you don’t detect unbridled excitement on my part, you’d be right. It borders on the epic and the grandiose but doesn’t quite reach the heights. As a debut album, it’s pleasant and strong on ideas and fluidity, but they need to go up a few notches on the power scale to be truly captivating.
http://www.hangingdoll.com
www.myspace.com/hangingdoll
www.oncebittenmusic.com
Andrew Doherty
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