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Pretty Maids - Kingmaker


Stefan

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I listened to this one today but unfortunately I was in the process of watching a 2 and 1/2 hour drive home from my brother's house turn into a 5 and 1/2 hour fucking opus through the middle of the country (bushfires closed the highway, north and southbound... absolutely massive thing in the context of things, leaving hundreds and hundreds of people stranded on the mid north coast of NSW tonight).

 

But anyway, I wasn't completely tuned into this album under the circumstances, but from what I heard I couldn't understand the negative response to it. Everyone says they prefer their more melodic moments, and I agree 100%, which is why this album is probably one of, if not my favourite from them in recent years. I heard 4 really good melodic tunes on here... more in line with the uptempo melodic rockers they used to do, way back in the 'Anything worth doing' days. Recently it's only been the balladic tracks which provide the melodic moments, but I was glad to hear a few more uptempo tunes with big melody.

 

'Face the world,' 'Humanize me,' 'Heaven's little devil' and 'Last beauty on earth' were my favourite songs, and as for the rest, well it's what you expect from PM. If they turned the tables and did 7 melodic tunes and 4 of the more metal songs, I have no doubt their entire fanbase would be pleased. I like the heavy rockers, but they're pretty interchangeable from disc to disc.

 

I actually liked 'Sickening' but I get that the lyrical content is probably a bit... I don't even know the word... maybe a bit "silly" for some. I don't think we need songs like that, but in all honesty, that said, it's kind of what you expect from PM... and for that I just dug the tune for what it was.

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Only one listen but Bullseye stood out for me as the best tune.

2nd favorite

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When God Took A Day Off 8/10
Kingmaker 8.5/10
Face The World 8.25/10
Humanize Me 8.75/10
Last Beauty On Earth 8/10
Bull's Eye 9/10
King Of The Right Here... 7/10
Heavens Little Devil 8/10
Civilized Monsters 6/10
Sickening 6/10
Was That What You Wanted 7/10

 

 

77%

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Very close to how I'd rate it too. There might be a couple songs I'd go a tiny bit higher on but agree on the last 3 tracks....the album just loses steam.

 

My last couple listens I click back to the beginning after Heavens Little Devil.

 

It's good...but the last few tracks just aren't doing much for me. They sound good and all...I think it's more just the themes and lyrics.

 

When God Took A Day Off 8/10

Kingmaker 8.5/10

Face The World 8.25/10

Humanize Me 8.75/10

Last Beauty On Earth 8/10

Bull's Eye 9/10

King Of The Right Here... 7/10

Heavens Little Devil 8/10

Civilized Monsters 6/10

Sickening 6/10

Was That What You Wanted 7/10

 

 

77%

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Only one listen but Bullseye stood out for me as the best tune.

2nd favorite

 

 

agree, 1st one for me is 'Face The World'

 

Yes

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Very close to how I'd rate it too. There might be a couple songs I'd go a tiny bit higher on but agree on the last 3 tracks....the album just loses steam.

 

My last couple listens I click back to the beginning after Heavens Little Devil.

 

It's good...but the last few tracks just aren't doing much for me. They sound good and all...I think it's more just the themes and lyrics.

 

 

When God Took A Day Off 8/10

Kingmaker 8.5/10

Face The World 8.25/10

Humanize Me 8.75/10

Last Beauty On Earth 8/10

Bull's Eye 9/10

King Of The Right Here... 7/10

Heavens Little Devil 8/10

Civilized Monsters 6/10

Sickening 6/10

Was That What You Wanted 7/10

 

 

77%

I have to say i dont agree with this at all.

 

A few listens in and i am lovin this.

 

Kind of Right Here is awesome imo.

 

And i really like the last 3 as well esp Civilised Monsters. Killer track.

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This is how I see it in the early days;

 

1. When God Took A Day Off - good, basic hard rock opener - 7.25
2. Kingmaker - good tune. Not a super melodic one, and not a bullet-paced rocker… just middle-range and good - 7.50
3. Face The World - excellent melodic rock… the kind of stuff that drew me to this band so much in the late 90's - love it - 9.25
4. Humanize Me - more goodness - nice melodic heavy rocker - 8.50
5. Last Beauty On Earth - very nice ballad… a bit awkward in the chorus lyrically, but very good - 8.50
6. Bull's Eye - great melodic hard rocker… very nice - not many like this on previous albums - 9.50
7. King Of The Right Here And Now - solid tune, but pretty ordinary - 7.00
8. Heavens Little Devil - another nice and melodic tune - 8.50
9. Civilized Monsters - solid metal/hard rock tune - 7.00
10. Sickening - cool riff, solid tune… very "current," good or bad as that is - 7.50
11. Was That What You Wanted - okay closer, but the weakest song here - 6.50
Total - 79%
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Have been through this enough times now that I feel good about doing this...



1. When God Took A Day Off - Not bad, good intro song - 8.00

2. Kingmaker - Like this one a lot....rocks and melodic enough - 9.25

3. Face The World - Probably my favorite song...Just the kind of melodic rock I like - 10

4. Humanize Me - Makes 2 excellent songs in a row...Heavier but plenty of hooks and still melodic - 10

5. Last Beauty On Earth - Pretty solid ballad that reminds me of Every Heartbeat on the Nordic Union album - 9

6. Bull's Eye - Another fantastic melodic rock song...These guys sound great with these types of songs - 10

7. King Of The Right Here And Now - Not bad...Pretty good rocker - 8.00

8. Heavens Little Devil - Solid melodic song - 9.25

9. Civilized Monsters - Sounds good...Think I'd like it better if the next 2 songs weren't basically about the same theme - 8.00

10. Sickening - I just don't like this one. It's become an automatic skip. Really wish they put a more commercial, melodic song here - 5.0

11. Was That What You Wanted - It's ok. At this point I'm a little worn out with the third similar themed, social commentary song in a row - 6.0


Total - 84%


I think overall the album feels better than an 84 to me though as it's really just the last couple songs dragging the score down doing the rating like this. I'm no Pretty Maids expert and haven't listened to much of their stuff outside of Pandemonium and Motherland, but for me this album exceeds those two albums as I just find it more consistent for my tastes.

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I like 'Sickening.' Killer riff. For me the last song is the dud of the album, and that one Glen likes just plods for me.

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'Sickening' and 'King of The Right Here and Now' both deserved 7.25

I'll pick 'Face The World' as the real winner here, also 'Bull's Eye' and 'Heavens Little devil'

 

Agree. And throw in "Humanize Me". Been stuck in my damn head for over a week.

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Still only managed 2 listens lol.

 

I'm a busy bee these days.

 

Yeah I'm the same.

I've been listening to Dee Snider.

Looks like everyone else is doing Pretty Maids at the moment.

I'll get to it eventually...

 

Next year is looking like a great year for music as I am traveling heaps, which means I listen to lots of music on long flights and also when I'm in non English speaking places like parts of China etc

Catch up time...

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I only liked 3 tracks and I didn't place an order for it from my Taiwanese dealer.

 

Yeah, I didn't listen too much to this.Actually I didn't listen to many releases these days, although I'm doing long listening sessions of 6+ hours. I'm constantly spinning the latest track from W.Widdow/ tracks from AoK and of course Indiscreet 30. Especially the latest, since it was uploaded in spotify.

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I only liked 3 tracks and I didn't place an order for it from my Taiwanese dealer.

 

Yeah, I didn't listen too much to this.Actually I didn't listen to many releases these days, although I'm doing long listening sessions of 6+ hours. I'm constantly spinning the latest track from W.Widdow/ tracks from AoK and of course Indiscreet 30. Especially the latest, since it was uploaded in spotify.

 

Dude, who's this Taiwanese dealer you been talking about ? I thought the safest place to buy jap CD is from cdjapan ? or are you buying a taiwanese OBI thing ?

:D

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I only liked 3 tracks and I didn't place an order for it from my Taiwanese dealer.

 

Yeah, I didn't listen too much to this.Actually I didn't listen to many releases these days, although I'm doing long listening sessions of 6+ hours. I'm constantly spinning the latest track from W.Widdow/ tracks from AoK and of course Indiscreet 30. Especially the latest, since it was uploaded in spotify.

 

Dude, who's this Taiwanese dealer you been talking about ? I thought the safest place to buy jap CD is from cdjapan ? or are you buying a taiwanese OBI thing ?

:D

 

 

 

Screw it, buddy. I won't place an order after all, because "Dangerous" isn't on the Japanese version (no way I'm buying Rock Candy releases).

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I had a drive to country Victoria to see some customers, so had a few hours to listen to some new music.

Finally got to hear this a couple of times.

 

Stand outs so far are

Bull's Eye

Face The World

Last Beauty On Earth

 

Haven't taken to
Kingmaker

Humanize Me

Sickening ("sickening, sickening, sickening" lets it down)

Was That What You Wanted (chorus lets it down)

 

Can see myself liking

When God Took A Day Off

Heaven's Little Devil

Civilized Monsters

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  • 2 years later...

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