Pretty Maids, a Danish melodic metal band formed in 1981 by Ronnie Atkins (Avantasia) and Ken Hammer, play guitar-laden heavy metal/rock with a strong emphasis on melodic elements. Pretty Maids have sold hundreds of thousands of records worldwide and are international superstars. Kingmaker is the 13th full-length album, coming on the heels of the success of the band's last few studio releases, and promises to be one of their best ever. Produced by Jacob Hansen (Volbeat, Amaranthe, Primal Fear).
J**H
Great... again... Pretty Maids consistently deliver the goods.
Yet again...the best band in the world (imo) releases another great album. Now, with Pretty Maids, you really need 6 stars to differentiate between normal great and greater than great. To me, this was a normal great album. I love their other recent albums like Motherland and Pandemonium more... and same with other classics like Spooked and Sin Decade. However, this is the cycle of things when a band always does great work... sometimes an album just is less than what came before it while still being great. Anyone who does not know Pretty Maids much and likes melodic hard rock is in for a treat when they discover Pretty Maids... it is the biggest hidden gem of rock music. Like all their albums, this one features great guitars, vocals, drums, keys, and choruses. I would say my favorite has become "Was That What You Wanted" on this one... I just love that chorus. Other stand outs are Bull's Eye, Last Beauty on Earth, and Kingmaker... but, as usual, there is not a bad song in the bunch.
B**B
Another stellar release from Pretty Maids
Another stellar release from Pretty Maids. Been a fan now for 26 years. They remain one of the most underrated acts out there. Mainly because so few people actually know of them. Most fans of classic melodic hard rock would love them. Initially I thought this album was a little below the level of the last album "Motherland" but the more I listen to it the better it gets. Now I rate as better than "Motherland" and closer to "Pandemonium" from 2010, which is one of my favorite albums of all times. "Kingmaker" just does not have the same ready made hits. But it's an excellent album throughout with the usual mix of great guitar work and powerful vocals and great songs with high quality arrangements and melodies. From catchy rockers like "Face the world" to crunching hard rockers like "When God took a day off", "Was that what you wanted?" and the title track "King Maker".For my money this is the album of the year.
T**H
Solid melodic hard rock album!
Have to start by saying that I'm a new Pretty Maids fan. Basically, I was drawn to giving these guys a closer look after loving Ronnie Atkins vocal work on the Nordic Union project that was out in January of 2016. For me, that Nordic Union album is probably my favorite album of 2016.After hearing Nordic Union I went back and checked out Pretty Maids' back catalog. Iv'e found quite a bit I liked but also quite a bit I didn't like. I think mostly I like their more melodic work and I'm not real big on the more heavy, straight ahead, political stuff.Anyways, I thought I owed it to myself to check this new album out after loving the Nordic Union album and liking portions of the bands back catalog. I also quite liked the first 4 songs that were released by Frontiers (Face The World, Humanize Me, Kingmaker and Heavens Little Devil as I thought all those songs were very melodic and sounded like songs that could've been Nordic Union material.Overall, I like this new album a lot. For me, the first 8 songs are all pretty awesome.....There's some hard rocking tunes, there's more melodic moments....Just good stuff. I absolutely love Kingmaker, Face The World, Humanize Me and Bull's Eye.....Just perfect. I also really like Last Beauty on Earth and Heaven's Little Devil.For me, the only reason I'm not giving this album 5 stars is because the album tails off for me a bit with the last few songs. I just think the last 3 songs all deal with the same political themed, dark subject matter and they all kinda run together a bit for me. I personally would've liked a more melodic, commercial type tune in the Sickening spot as I think these guys excel with those types of songs. At the same time though, I know many longer-standing fans of the band love these dark, political songs so I'm sure the band was trying to appeal to them and finish out the album in a hard rocking fashion.Overall, it's a very solid release though and a good mixture of styles as there is probably a little bit for everybody here. I'd have to say also that for me, it's the best I've heard this band and I like this album a bit better than Pandemonium or Motherland....even though it's sorta following the same formula as those two albums in my opinion.At the end of the day though, this is just good ,solid melodic hard rock and it's great to see a band that's been around as long as these guys still cranking out quality music.
T**R
Excellent Buy, Exactly What It Looks Like and A Certificate Of Authenticity.
The Only Thing Is That It Comes In An Amazon Box and The CD Is Self-Wrapped. But Other Wise Than That, Very Good Quality!
A**I
Pretty Maids has found new life
Ever since Pandemonium, Pretty Maids has found new life. The band sounds tighter and stronger than ever before. Discovered by Deep Purple's Roger Glover in the early 80s, Pretty Maids has gone through the Metal 80s, still doing Metal slightly different in the 90s (especially Spooked), and returning under Frontiers to become a real power house.
S**H
Like what Allen Sorensen
Never heard of these guys, my miss out! Like what Allen Sorensen, new drummer did with Cornerstone and Royal hunt. Thought I would check them out.This album is great! Can’t wait to hear Allen on these guys next record!
R**R
Thanks
Thank You
S**R
Amazing new stuff
Great deal. Love it
M**A
hard rock
perfekt
C**S
El categórico regreso de Pretty Maids
Nuevo trabajo de los daneses Pretty Maids, una de las agrupaciones más luchadoras de la escena metálica actual, que demuestra a través de todos sus cortes que la banda sigue aportando fuerza y frescura a pesar de su longevidad.En este "Kingmaker" (2016) Pretty Maids siguen explotando ese sonido sólido y trabajado que no deja de lado la melodía, demostrando su gran vena compositiva y una tremenda personalidad que quedan reflejadas desde la misteriosa inicial “When God Take A Day Off” hasta la cumplidora “Was That What You Wanted”, pasando por momentos verdaderamente brillantes como “Face The World” y el precioso medio tiempo “Last Beauty On Earth”.Nuevamente equilibrio y variedad son las características predominantes de la banda, que combina perfectamente pasado, presente y futuro, junto a melodía y crudeza. Temas bien pensados, sabiamente ejecutados y sobresalientemente producidos son las características de uno de sus mejores trabajos en su extensa discografía.
C**N
Five Stars
new music
V**N
fantástico
un disco genial de principio a fin. Por suerte tengo la copia digital, porque me parece que el cd se terminará rayando :)
B**C
CD
Comme d'habitude, encore un très bon album des Danois signé par Jacob Hansen, riff et balade .A acheter sans modération...
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