Reviewed by Dylan Raine

Artist: LA STRANGE
Album: QUEEN OF DISGUISE
Label: ALL OUT MUSIC (2011)
Promotion: ATOMIC STUFF

1. Control
2. Addicted to some thoughts
3. Enjoy all their lies
4. Far away
5. Give in to me (Michael Jackson cover)
6. The perfect husband
7. In the silence
8. Keep goin’ on
9. Queen of disguise
10. You finally knocked me down

“When you live for years, hiding constantly behind a mask, at some point you need to express all those feelings that you kept secretly for so long. For some reason you want to, and you need to share your ghosts. Music has always been my favourite way of escape, and I think it’s the best vehicle to find balance between reality and dreams” – Angela Castellani (LA Strange)

LA Strange sings about her own experiences, her intimate feelings and her past. Sometimes they are a little explicit as they deal with such important themes like domestic violence, but they always truthful and sincere. Born in a little village in northern Italy, La Strange is an Italian rock singer. Her strong motivation, natural talent and passion together with a powerful stage presence and un-ending commitment to her music are her main qualities.

So now we know a little about the history of the artist and the foundations for the music, so, what’s the album like? We are basically listening to extremely expressive melodic rock with so many different elements of passion, musical interaction, layers and textures, and the most expressive vocals ever to take a stand on a rock album. From song to song you are taken on a journey into super-expressions and lyrics which can evoke emotions that you didn’t even know were there. Eventually you’ll come to LA Strange’s version of ‘Give In To Me’, a Michael Jackson cover that the singer wanted to record both in tribute to his untimely death and because it was his music that inspired her the most during her childhood and she has really given this track a new light. I fell for ‘The perfect husband’ with the haunting melodies and obscure riffs. The lyrics feel very much of ‘Megalomania’ by Muse with the haunting array of tones of expressions. ‘In the silence’, ‘Far away’, and ‘Enjoy all their lies’ all share beautiful powerful melodies and textures, far beyond that of simple expression. The expressive tones in the vocals of ‘Enjoy all their lies’ reminded me of the diversity in ‘Nina Simone’s’ vocals with their subtle little changes making them even more beautiful than the last passage.

A wonderful album to listen to and become a part of!