Gold – Interbellum (2012)

After striking gold with The Devil’s Blood and their intoxicating sound, Ván Records brings to us Gold, a female-led Hard Rock band from the Netherlands. With a style similar to label mates Vanderbuyst but a little bit darker, this band delivers nine songs of catchy and well-constructed Rock songs that have a warm and fuzzy feeling that is rare these days. Thanks to the fresh and unique voice of Milena Eva, this band has a good fighting chance against a very tough competition in such a crowded genre.

Since the opener “One of Us”, we can hear the band’s excellent abilities to craft catchy hard-rocking music, but it is Milena who steals the show with her very unique voice. With the guitar work being pretty solid, the catchy chorus sections of tracks like “Antebellum” and “Love, The Magician”, are what really hooks the listener into liking the band. “Gone Under”, shows a more playful side of the band that nicely combines the heavy guitar work with a more pop-ish vocal structure that works wonders and nicely gives the band a refreshing approach to the genre.

Our favorite track in this release is the super catchy “Dreams” and the excellent guitar solos in the song. The vocals are as good as ever, but the overall hard-rocking atmosphere of this track makes it very appealing and engaging for the listener. Filled with mellow interludes and tight drumming, “North” and “Medicine Man” really mellow out this release after a series of hard-hitting tunes. The Van Halen-ish “The Hunt” comes in at our second favorite track in this release thanks to its playfulness and different style from the previous songs.

Leaving on a high note with the 7-minute epic “Ruby”, the band really shows a completely different side to them with an excellent buildup in this song. “Interbellum” is quite an entertaining release and Gold really gives the listener a good argument on why they are not to be cataloged with the rest of the bands in the genre that play the same stuff over and over. With nine very fresh and exciting songs, this is one release that you can’t afford to miss if you like female-fronted hard rock music.

Release: December 7th, 2012

Genre: Hard Rock

Country: Netherlands