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Pretty Maids > Carpe Diem > 2000, CD, Epic Records Japan (Japan) > Reviews
Pretty Maids - Carpe Diem

Another extremely competent effort from the maids! - 88%

Brat1983, January 20th, 2005

After the masterpiece Spooked and it´s extremely decent follow-up, Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Overdoing, I was wondering what the maids´ next release would be. Could it match the previous release? Well, indeed it could :-)

1. Violent Tribe
WOW! What an opening riff! It really sent me to Heavy Metal Heaven! Violent Tribe itself is a really cool song, but maybe Atkins could have sung it in another way? His high tones seem a little misplaced... and we know that he can sing deep... Nevertheless, cool track! (8/10)

2. Carpe Diem
Another cool song, and as the title indicates, it´s about seizing the day and living your life full! Cool solo, great melody. (9/10)

3. Tortured Spirits
Really cool track about schizophrenia. The verses are slow and mainly keyboardoriented but at the of each verse the rest of the band sets in fully for the chorus, and what a chorus. "Tortured spirit haunting me. Playing with my sanity. Taking over, steal my soul. I'm in a mental stranglehold". Boy, this is really a mean motherfucker! (10/10)


4. Wouldn't Miss You
This is actually a rather cheesy song but it still has got a great melody and an okay solo. (8/10)

5. Clay
Well, my opinion about Clay can be read in my review of the single (10/10) (and yes, I "only" gave the single a 92, but it lost a few points for having only one track on. The song deserves a fully 10)

6. Poisoned Pleasures
A song about drug addiction. An okay track, but nothing special. The maids have done way better than this (7/10)

7. Until It Dies
Absolutely fucking amazing track, this one. One of the 5 best songs PM has ever made! It has 3 different parts. The verse, the bridge and the chorus + of course a kick ass solo by Ken Hammer. None of the 3 parts sound alike but boy do they fit well together... that chorus is SO great! "We're stillborn, we're dead meat, we're no one untill it diiiiies...." SO FUCKING GREAT!! (10/10)

8. The Unwritten Pages
A mid paced rocking track.. I read an interview with Ronnie Atkins saying that he wrote it after having had a fight with his wife. It's kinda cool this one with a nice chorus (8/10)

9. For Once In Your Life
Another ballad but very unlike Clay. This has got a little more tempo to it, yet it doesn't completely reach the genious of Clay, but less can do as well (9/10)

10. They're All Alike
Cool headbanging track about corrupt politicians and stuff like that. A really nice track (9/10)

11. Time Awaits For No One
This is kind of a slow rock song. Nothing metallic about it, yet it's really an okay song. The chorus gets a little boring when being repeated too much, but otherwise it´s a good song. (8/10)

12. Invisible Chains
The album closes with another slow rock song which hasn't got any metallica feel either... and despite it feels like a bit of a let down to close the album with 2 slow rock songs, Invisible Chains isn't a bad song... It's got a nice melody and the lyrics are about how bad a thing incest is... So all in all, it's an okay track that closes the album... but still it feels like a bit of a let down... (7/10)

Considering all, there could perhaps have been a rocking track or 2 more on this album, but the maids have once again delievered the goods with an extremely competent and well played album!