Pamela Moore
Behind the Veil
Planet Sweet Records
2018
Pamela Moore is best known to the metal crowd as Sister Mary due to her involvement in Queensryche’s monumental concept album “Operation: Mindcrime”, as the eponymous character. Since, but also before that she has a rather unspectacular solo career and did some guest performances.
On this her sixth solo release she’s joined by some well-known names including Rudy Sarzo on bass (who’s played with too many people and bands to mention here), Casey Grillo the former drummer of Kamelot, Michael Posch (Radakka) on guitar and orchestrations, as well as newcomer, Craig Church assuming also the same role and has some special guests, like Ralf Scheepers (ex-Gamma Ray, Primal Fear), Randy Piper (ex-Wasp) and Elliot Anders. Think a more contemporary and grungy Rychesque vibe, with capable vocals, but rather repetitive ideas that bog the albums slower heavier songs. Without strong enough choruses, or riffs that set themselves apart, there’s a feel of uniformity that makes this a stagnant and difficult listen.
“Sickness”, that has Scheepers guesting, manages to differentiate itself a bit, “Wi-fi Zombies”, that feels something like solo Dickinson gone to hell to meet Rob Zombie, feels underdeveloped and zanny, although it does manage to register itself. Between those two, there are some fleeting moments worth of appreciation in the overdramatic, mid-tempos and the rather heavyhearted ballads, but they aren’t too many and usually they’re pretty far between. People who love her performance or maniacal completists might want to give this a spin, but I find that I hardly will be coming back to this anytime soon.
On this her sixth solo release she’s joined by some well-known names including Rudy Sarzo on bass (who’s played with too many people and bands to mention here), Casey Grillo the former drummer of Kamelot, Michael Posch (Radakka) on guitar and orchestrations, as well as newcomer, Craig Church assuming also the same role and has some special guests, like Ralf Scheepers (ex-Gamma Ray, Primal Fear), Randy Piper (ex-Wasp) and Elliot Anders. Think a more contemporary and grungy Rychesque vibe, with capable vocals, but rather repetitive ideas that bog the albums slower heavier songs. Without strong enough choruses, or riffs that set themselves apart, there’s a feel of uniformity that makes this a stagnant and difficult listen.
“Sickness”, that has Scheepers guesting, manages to differentiate itself a bit, “Wi-fi Zombies”, that feels something like solo Dickinson gone to hell to meet Rob Zombie, feels underdeveloped and zanny, although it does manage to register itself. Between those two, there are some fleeting moments worth of appreciation in the overdramatic, mid-tempos and the rather heavyhearted ballads, but they aren’t too many and usually they’re pretty far between. People who love her performance or maniacal completists might want to give this a spin, but I find that I hardly will be coming back to this anytime soon.