UMUR "Spooked" is the 7th full-length studio album by Danish heavy rock/metal act Pretty Maids. The album was released through Massacre Records in February 1997.

The music on "Spooked" pretty much continues down the harder edged path of the it´s precessor "Scream (1993)". For the most part we´re talking traditional heavy metal with a melodic edge (and occasional power metal leanings), but the band also take excursions into more synth heavy melodic heavy metal territory on tracks like "Live Until It Hurts" and "Never to Late". The album also features a power ballad in "If It Can't Be Love" and the Kiss cover "Hard Luck Woman". But other than those four tracks, the album features one hard rocking heavy metal track after another. And we´re talking high quality melodic heavy metal tracks. Great energy, strong musicianship and add to that a powerful sound production by Tommy Hansen, and "Spooked" ends up a really enjoyable listening experience.

"Spooked" is definitely worth a purchase if you are a fan of melodic heavy metal. The most metal oriented material on the album (take a listen to the opening thrashy riff in "Freakshow" for an example of that) ensure that fans of harder edged heavy metal should also have an interest in the album. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Scream" is the 6th full-length studio album by Danish melodic heavy rock/metal act Pretty Maids. The album was released through Massacre Records in January 1995. The preceeding album "Stripped (1993)" featured only acoustic and slightly electric ballads and power ballads, but on "Scream" it´s safe to say that the band are back with a metal vengeance.

...well that´s only partially true, but let´s save the explanation for later. The album opens with three of the most heavy and hard edged songs Pretty Maids had released up until then in "Rise", "Scream" and "Psycho-Time-Bomb-Planet-Earth", and my hopes for the rest of the album are high from the get go. Unfortunately it´s not until track number 9 titled "Adrenaline Junkie" that we reach that high an energy level again and IMO that´s too bad, because Pretty Maids are best when they kick ass like they do on those tracks. In addition to the harder edged material on the album, "Scream" also features melodic rockers like "This Love", "Walk Away" and the almost glam metal influenced "Don't Turn Your Sex on Me". While that part of the band´s material is more synth heavy, melodic and generic to my ears, it´s the two ballads on the album that really disturb my listening experience. When done right ballads and power ballads can be a nice variation on an otherwise hard edged album, but when both "In a World of Your Own" and "Anytime Anywhere" sound like something off Smokie´s greatest hits, I´m out of here. Luckily that´s only two out of ten tracks and the rest of the material ranges from above standard melodic rockers to really great hard edged heavy rock/metal tracks.

The musicianship is on a high level as always, with Ronnie Atkins strong vocals as the focal point. Packed in a powerful sound production courtesy of Pretty Maids and Flemming Rasmussen (Metallica, Morbid Angel, Blind Guardian...etc.), "Scream" overall comes off as a very professional product.

Besides my complaint about the saccarine ballads, which is probably an aquired taste anyways, "Scream" is a very strong album by Pretty Maids and a 3.5 (70%) rating is fair.

UMUR "Stripped" is the 5th full-length studio album by Danish melodic hard rock/heavy rock/metal act Pretty Maids. The album was released through Columbia Records in 1993. With their 4th full-length studio album "Sin-Decade (1992)", Pretty Maids wanted to return to a more raw and unpolished sound after the more polished sound of "Jump the Gun (1990)". "Sin-Decade (1992)" closed with the John Sykes/Phil Lynott penned ballad "Please Don't Leave Me" though and that track became the band´s greatest hit ever. Especially the Japanese loved the track and craved more in the same vein, so Pretty Maids released the five track acoustic EP "Offside" later in 1992 to satisfy the demand. The Japanese fans wanted more though and the band decided to make a full acoustic album.

"Stripped" contains "Savage Heart", which had previously been released on "Jump the Gun (1990)" and the five tracks from the "Offside (1992)" EP (including "Please Don't Leave Me") plus four new tracks. All tracks can be described as either acoustic rock ballads or softer hard rock power ballads (with some distorted guitars). Lead vocalist Ronnie Atkins makes sure that we don´t forget that Pretty Maids are a hard/heavy rock act, but this is generally a very soft and polished release. I´m probably a bit out of line to call it tame, but there is little here that suggests that Pretty Maids are more than capable of kicking ass when they want to.

While the album is certainly well produced, well performed and well written and probably effectively shut the mouth of the Japanese fans, I think it´s quite the tame affair. Personally I struggle to get through the album, but I guess if you are a sucker for ballads and power ballads, "Stripped" might be better suited for you. I´ll play nice and hand out a 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating.

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.

Time Signature Lethal heroes...

Genre: classic heavy metal

The band name might seem to suggest a glam metal outfit, and perhaps perhaps this also applies to the band's outfit at the time, but when you give "Jump the Gun" a spin, you will find that there is no sleaze or glam at all to the music itself.

Certainly, there is a lot of melody to most of the tunes, and there is also the obligatory ballad in "Savage Heart". Like much melodic 80s metal (yes, I know this is from 1990, but the aesthetics of 80s metal were still pretty prevalent at the time), synths are an integral part to the music, and both in terms of sound and use, the synths on this album have a very outdated 80s quality to them, but I kind of like that actually - perhaps for no other reason than nostalgia. Some tracks also have a certain poppy feel to them, like "Savage Heart", "Young Blood" and the title track.

But, there is plenty of punch to much of the riffage on this album - just check many of the riffs in tracks like "Lethal Heroes", "Rock the House", "Headlines", "Attention" (which is almost a power metal track) One also has to appreciate the catchiness of many of the choruses and the superb delivery of the guitar solos.

While I like most of the tracks on this album, including many of the ballads and the more pop-oriented tracks, the three last tunes are, in my opinion, sub par compared to the rest of the album.

If you like melodic 80s metal, then you should definitely check out "Jump the Gun" by Pretty Maids, which really is an underrated gem.