HB - Frozen Inside & White Wizzard - Over the Top

Apparently the band name stands for Holy Bible.  Huh.

Christian attempt to get a piece of that female-fronted symphonic metal pie popularized by Nightwish, Within Temptation, etc.  Can't say I have particular interest in the style, secular or otherwise, so aside from the lyrics, to me they seem quite interchangeable with any other band in the genre.  Vengeance Rising this is not.  I'm genuinely curious if anyone picks this as a full-on substitute for other symphonic metal rather than as an additional band in the genre, like someone choosing HB since After Forever is too blasphemous for them.  Don't have anything more to say about this that can't be readily observed on the cover (the drummer has a mohawk, the singer didn't receive any blessings in the breast department, etc.).  I do find it amusing the cover makes it look like each band member is representing a different kind of Hot Topic patron (ala Dethklok).  

Not as immediately likable as some of the material on the High Speed GTO EP-- here they're better at playing reasonably entertaining metal than at playing great metal.  The vocals are surprisingly strong and while there are some cool parts, the general songwriting seems weak for its influences.  I feel this is honestly a bit too overground, as the album largely chases after early-mid '80s Priest at the peak of their commercial popularity--along with "Iron Goddess of Vengeance" (their attempt at "Powerslave") and the usual traditional metal tropes--but severely lacks the catchiness and true wow factor associated with those sounds.  They do what they can, I suppose, but rather than hear a band fall short of such lofty goals, I'd just as soon prefer a band doing rougher USPM or 3rd string NWOBHM worship exceedingly well.  Middling as a retro-HM release.  

On to the covers, the real reason I got this:

• "Gates of Gehenna" - Decent musically, but the vocals have none of  the sinister authority of the original EP/album versions, and the exaggerated highs are lame.  DAVID POTTER WE MISS YOU.
• "Heading Out to the Highway" - On a technical level, it's a solid cover, and obviously stronger than their original material.  However, it falls into a perilous who-gives-a-fuck area--it's not impeccable enough where I can marvel how well they emulate JP, but it's so by-the-numbers there's no good reason to listen to it over the original.

Under the disc tray, we have a close up of the girl from the cover--surprise, it's a a rendering of La Toya Jackson during her SuicideGirls years!