Royal Thunder – “CVI”

Royal Thunder’s debut album CVI (Roman Numeral for 106) is an awesome retro metal album that sounds like a cross between Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Oh yeah, and they’re fronted by a woman, but don’t even think that front woman Miny Parsonz is “just another female metal vocalist.” No, this woman has got pipes that sound like she was raised on a steady diet of Ozzy and Robert Plant with a dash of Mick Jagger thrown in for good measure.

Now, what about the songs? They are some of the best retro metal songs you will have heard in quite some time. Songs like “Shake and Shift” combine a heavy Sabbath groove with some 60s style harmonies that absolutely smoke, while opener “Parsonz Curse” gets all bluesy like the best Zeppelin songs did. I cannot stress how good this band is, and anyone who’s a fan of early to mid 70s bluesy metal will lap this up. Personally I’m a sucker for this stuff and I love it.

Some might say that the current female fronted retro metal explosion of bands like Blood Ceremony, The Devil’s Blood, Christian Mistress and now Royal Thunder are just a fad. To me however, it just means that finally even more women are trying to break out into metal and hard rock and personally I find it refreshing. I hope that Royal Thunder gets the attention that they deserve and break out in a big way.

Track Listing:

01. Parsonz Curse
02. Whispering World
03. Shake and Shift
04. No Good
05. Blue
06. Sleeping Witch
07. South of Somewhere
08. Drown
09. Minus
10. Black Water Vision

Run Time: 63:16
Release Date: May 22, 2012

Check out the song: “Whispering World”