Queen of the Night

I'd promised myself to no longer take the easy, review whoring route by focusing solely on full-lengths and odd demo/EP, whilst avoiding cheesy one-off write-ups for singles. However, a quintet from Utrecht, Netherlands (land of eighteenth century peace treaties) which has made it so far subsisting on these, exclusively, is still worthy of Metal Archives publicity, from its cathartic-ally rocking "Fairytale" debut from 2019, to this here touched upon (albeit prosaically named) "Queen of the Night", released on Valentine's Day, with five more stand-alone cuts, in between, last year.

With such a turgidly cryptic moniker, Dangerous Times For The Dead - "Gevaarlijke Tijden Voor De Doden" to Dutchophiles - we're bound to expect something both stylish and grammatically inclined...the likes of Italy's Nasty Tendency cross-bred with local hot-to-trot minstrels Vanderbuyst, say. For one thing, the cover art, all around, is colourfully fetching; the band logo and album title's angular Teutonic font hark back to numerous flash-in-the-pan aspirants, such as Germany's Bongzilla, Belgium's Witchlords, or Swedish neo-thrasher Pagandom. Alas, DTftD is as classic and dyed-in-the-wool as it gets, insofar as meat & potatoes palm-muted riffing and flashy (not fishy) pentatonic soloing are concerned.

Plus, the nasal, distinctly European sounding mid-high range vocals, sitting low in the mix as they do, lend a subtle avant-garde, hipster vibe. This cold stream tip-toeing outfit also instills vestigially accessible hints of Bible of the Devil and/or Fireball Ministry flair. Even the Yankee Doodle evoking bridge riff oozes charm! By now, it's a wonder these quirky chips off the old block have yet to record LP proper. (In essence, their seven fairly divergent tracks entail sufficient material for a convincing, if not wholly convivial, EP.)