Female grunters aren’t that unusual anymore, but one of the most impressing and most beautiful ones (there are many, and since I do profoundly adore 1. beautiful woman and 2. beautiful Metal, I am but a lucky human entity) is Mona Beck. She first impressed me on Illnath’s former album, Third Act In The Theatre Of Madness, which gave me a double-bind felling. At the one hand, I was really impressed by Mona’s vocal appearance (and no, I am not just focussing on her pretty face), yet it was the lesser inspirational Illnath recording to date as well.
4 Shades Of Me isn’t that different, actually. The album brings fast, rhythmic, pounding and energetic Thrash / Death Metal with a rough, massive sound, but rather uninspired. No, it’s not bad (at all), but haven’t I heard all these riffs before? Isn’t there a lack of creativity and own-faced expression? And what about some more ‘balls’?...
4 Shades Of Me is rather catchy, safe somewhat common, and even Mona’s attractive throat won’t change my opinion. It’s an average release (again) with nothing additional to expose, but it’s not bad either. However, nowadays I think there’s more interesting material available…