UMUR
Future World is the 2nd full-length studio album by Danish heavy rock/metal act Pretty Maids. The album was released through Columbia Records in April 1987. Future World was suppossed to have been Pretty Maids big breakthrough in the US, but while the album was a big commercial and artistic success in especially Japan and Germany, Pretty Maids just never really broke through bigtime in the US. In interviews the band have often mentioned the lack of an American management as the reason.
The music on Future World has generally taken on a more melodic and synth heavy sound than the music style on the more raw debut album "Red, Hot and Heavy (1984)", but we´re still treated to some pretty hard edged (well... relatively) tracks in the title track (which features a power/speed metal sound), the raw "Loud´n´Proud" and the heavy anthemic "We Came to Rock". The synth heavy "Love Games" and the power ballad "Eye of the Storm" are in the more pop oriented end of the spectrum. Diversity is certainly one of the assets of Future World, and I guess it wouldn´t be wrong to mention as different acts as Van Halen, Europe, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest as influences. Another asset is the excellent musicianship. Instrumentally the band are skilled and lead vocalist Ronnie Atkins are able to reach both higher pitched notes as well as delivering more raw type vocals. He is one of those vocalists that reek confidence and who commands respect on that account.
The sound production is pretty great for the time, even though the snare drum sound has that "classic" eighties reverb sound, that will probably always be an aquired taste for most people. While the production is credited to Eddie Kramer (Jimi Hendrix, Kiss, Anthrax...etc.), the band were not satisfied with Kramer whom they fired after 14 days in the studio. The album was finished with studio technician Chris Isca. Chris Isca, Flemming Rasmussen and Kevin Elson mixed the album. Each was chosen to mix specific tracks on the album to bring out either a hard edged sound or a more polished pop oriented one.
Future World is a high quality melodic heavy metal album, and fans of the genre should find a lot to like about the album. It´s too bad Pretty Maids never made it big in the US like they had intented to with this album, because Future World certainly deserved to be recognised more than it did on that market. Thankfully as mentioned above the band found recognition and success other places in the world and Future World ended up selling a more than respectable number of copies. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is warranted.