Released: 23 May 2018
Links: https://princessworld.bigcartel.com/product/princess-princess-2018
Tracklist:
1.Theatrical Opera
2.Freed Prisoner (Extended)
3.El Dia Antes del Mañana
4.Reborn
5.Losin’ My Faith
6.Space
7.Funky Fusion
8.I’d Like…
9.Till the End of Time
10.Princess
11.God Save the Goblin (feat. Princess)
Goblin
When I was offered the chance to review the band Princess with their s/t release I was intrigued mostly by their link to the band Goblin. As a Romero and Argento fan, those movies with their great soundtracks provided by the Prog band Goblin, I was expecting to hear stuff closer to that sound, keyboard driven and spooky. What I found was a much weirder and tougher to define compilation of songs. I’ll admit, my Goblin knowledge isn’t that deep, and is restricted more to a handful of movies as opposed to a deeper knowledge of their catalog. So perhaps my initial expectations weren’t met, but I did walk away from the album with some observations worthy of sharing.
The first thing that caught my ear was the distinct separation in the album itself. The first half of the album is considerably different from the last portion. I had limited information about the project, so I’m not entirely sure if this was by design or just sort of happened. The first five tracks seem almost like higher quality demos. They’re decently produced on one hand but almost have an unfinished feel. The performances are pretty good, especially the guitar work. It isn’t necessarily blazing shred work, but I dug the riffs and execution. Once you get to track 6 the album seems to almost become something else entirely. In fact the track “Space” begins with this intro then takes the music into a different direction, sounding more a hard rock band with a clearer vision of what they wanted to present, whereas the first bit seemed more of a melodic and dramatic Prog Metal band with serious Power Metal leanings without actually being metal. Makes sense, right? But even still, Princess still seem directionally directionless as the album progresses. I’m still digging the guitar playing and some of the themes through the songs, but I’m still kind of confused about what they’re trying to do. Once you get to the track “God Save the Goblin” featuring Goblin, you finally get a sound that you’re expecting from the jump.
If I’m being honest, I’m still perplexed about how I feel about this album. Some things I really dug, but most of it was just too jumbled for my taste. The guitar work definitely helped me stick with this album as much as I did, but I’m not entirely sure I can advocate a wide span of people being into Princess by Princess. It’s a unique journey, that’s for sure, and there is some talent and neat things here, but overall it is kind of a hot mess.
Written by: Chris Martin
Ratings: 5/10
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