HOLY MOTHER
HOLY MOTHER “Rise”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Mike Tirelli and HOLY MOTHER are back in the house. This man is a hidden treasure of heavy metal, with a voice that can cut through glass and a long history of service to the genre. Mike basically IS HOLY MOTHER and he surrounds himself with top notch talent to execute his vision.
The last HM album “Face This Burn” was a hard to define melange of many styles of metal but maintaining an overall classy feel. “Rise” feels angrier and a little heavier, a little bit more loose around the edges. Even Mike’s vocals, usually smooth as silk, seem more ragged this time, but in a pleasing way. The album gets off to a somewhat inopportune start with “Fire”, which has a kind of choppy and unfocused feel, although the singing is impeccable. From there, things only get better, as “The Elevator” has a great mid-paced crunch and a more streamlined style. The band focuses mainly on the mid-tempo, with an occasional burst of speed. “Jeremiah” has a swaggering ALICE IN CHAINS grungy feel that has Tirelli sounding a lot like DIO. “Power” lives up to its title with a faster touch while the title track rumbles along on a juicy bass line and a vocal vibe that’s a lot rawer than Mike’s usual style.
There’s great variation on every HOLY MOTHER album and “Rise” is no exception as “Down” brings the funky hard rock in DAN REED NETWORK fashion. “The Interventionist” almost brings QUEENSRYCHE’s “Rage For Order” to mind with a semi-industrial metal thrust. “Hex” is an awesome super crunchy rocker that straddles the line between “true” metal and the heaviest hair metal. There’s no doubt where “Live To Die” gets its influence from...this is pure DIO/PRIEST worship with a blazing pace. The album winds up with the epic sounding “Rain” which has pompous keyboards filling it out.
HOLY MOTHER nails that style of music that can only be called “heavy metal” and nothing else. Will this band ever get the recognition it deserves? Unfortunately, the cynic in me says probably not, but that won’t stop me from recommending them to you.