I have to say the title of this fine album is somewhat ironic as its lyrics are a million miles removed from fantasy; rather they are socially conscious and reflect the real world. Indeed, much like last year’s welcome Mad Max: Fury Road, Van Halst display a strong, articulate and welcome feminist agenda in their music.
Musically, the band are superb, very much their own beast, one that would appeal to fans of Evanescence but with a more diverse and harder sound. Singer Kami Van Halst has an amazingly diverse voice and is a real star, a much better idol for women to look up than the likes of Taylor Swift.
It’s hard to pick out favourites from such a strong body of work, but the anti-song ‘Questions’ has to be it because we’ve all seen cases in the papers where a judge has tried to blame the victim and that truly is terrible; wrong is wrong, all rapists are scum and so are people who try to excuse them.
I also have to especially praise ‘Put Him Down’ in which Kami comes across as a 21st-century Janis Joplin.
A fine and courageous album from a band I have no doubt we will hear much more from.
(Self-Released)
