Velvet Viper – The Pale Man Is Holding A Broken Heart
Album Review By Rainer Kerber
She is one of the longest serving, if not THE most long serving rock songstress in Germany. In 1969 she made her stage debut in the musical “Jesus Christ Super Star”. With Zed Yago she almost invented the genre of dramatic metal and later continued with Velvet Viper. The latter then dissolved in the early nineties. Jutta Weinhold was still on the road with various solo projects. Until she revived Velvet Viper a few years ago, but with a new cast. So in 2018, after a break of twenty-six years, the long-awaited third album “Respice Finem” was released. One and a half years after this masterpiece, album number four now appears, with the long name “The Pale Man Is Holding A Broken Heart.” Of course I had to listen to it intensively.
Velvet Viper goes intro. With my split relationship with Intros, surely not the best decision. Sphere sounds and spoken words. In my view dispensable. Seamlessly the changeover to the first real song “Götterdämmerung” takes place. Here, Jutta Weinhold and her men show how Dramatic Metal should sound. I am always impressed by this voice. Based on the title but I would have expected a German song. A great mid-tempo anthem of extra length (more than seven minutes). “All By Yourself” then offers a clear tempo boost, banging riffs and a driving Michael Ehré (Gamma Ray, Primal Fear, Uli Jon Roth) on the drums. And again, and again outstanding guitar solos by Holger Marx. Surprise, “One Eyed Ruler” is in the classic Doom Metal of the brand Black Sabbath or Candlemass settled. Another interesting facet of Velvet Viper. Of course, Jutta sings here with a pleasant-sounding, darker timbre.
Short intro on “Samson And Delilah”, followed by riffs as Dio quotes. Later you can hear clean guitars with a little folk-rock atmosphere. A pinch of Power Metal complacent. Please, here comes “Confuse and Satisfy”. When In “Something Is Rotten” it will be emotional. With acoustic guitars, later with powerful guitar, bass and drums. Probably one of the best power ballads I’ve heard in recent months. With “Keep Your Head Up” it will be very hymnic again. Well done is the change between acoustic melodies and heavier passages. Hard riffs are back in “Hide Your Fire”. Classic Heavy Metal. “The Wheel Has Come Full Circle” has a strong Doom edge again. And once again there is classic metal. In “One Day” dominate the hard riffs again.
Jutta Weinhold is probably one of the most perfect singers of the present. And she feels good in every genre. This is impressively demonstrated on “The Pale Man Is Holding A Broken Heart”. For this she has gathered outstanding musicians. These are the best conditions for a class album. However, I can not help feeling that they wanted a little too much this time. OK, every song is a little masterpiece. But in their entirety the songs are very different, somehow missing a clear line. Doom, Power Metal, Ballads, Metal Anthems. Since I liked the predecessor “Respice Finem” something better. But that does not change the fact that “The Pale Man Is Holding A Broken Heart” is one of the best Metal albums of 2019. Chapeau!
Velvet Viper – One Eyed Ruler: https://youtu.be/E7UviWlKzl8
Album-Lineup:
Jutta Weinhold – Vocals
Holger Marx – Gitarren
Johannes Möllers – Bass
Michael Ehré – Session Drums
Micha Fromm – Perkussion Instrumente & Gongs
Aktuelles Lineup:
Jutta Weinhold – Vocals
Holger Marx – Gitarren
Johannes Möllers – Bass
Micha Fromm – Drums
Label: Massacre Records
Out: October 25th, 2019
Playing time: 52:00
Track list:
- Things Behind
- Götterdämmerung
- All By Yourself
- One Eyed Ruler
- Samson And Delilah
- Confuse and Satisfy
- Something Is Rotten
- Keep Your Head Up
- Hide Your Fire
- The Wheel Has Come Full Circle
- One Day
Rating : 8.5/10
MHF Magazine/Rainer Kerber
