Album Review: The Neptune Power Federation - Goodnight My Children
Reviewed by Lana Teramae
Ever wondered why some women in rock ‘n’ roll aren’t taken seriously? Well, The Neptune Power Federation’s sixth studio album, ‘Goodnight My Children’ (2024), explains why. Ok, let’s back up a bit. The concept of the album, to provide a collection of haunting bedtime stories, is cool. The musicianship is excellent, especially the wicked guitar playing of guitarists Search and DesTroy, and Inverted CruciFox. The songs are in the vein of 1970s classic rock with a slight pop edge to them.
However, the lead vocals of “The Imperial Priestess,” Screaming Loz Sutch, are bloody unbearable, especially when she goes into the higher register. In the mid to low range, she sounds fine, but when she starts screaming in the higher range, her vocals come off as whiny. It really is a shame because her layered backing vocals on ‘Goodnight My Children’ are good, almost perfect on tracks like “Twas a Lie” and “Evermore.” The best songs on the album are the moody and experimental ones, where Sutch sings more laid-back, like “Woe Be Father’s Troubled Mind” and the title track. In fact, she would be better as a doom metal singer, where she can be more reserved and mysterious, rather than stretch her vocals and go over the top as a typical rock ‘n’ roll singer. She ain’t no Bon Scott, after all.
As mentioned before, the musicianship on this album is worth talking about. “Lock & Key” has the best guitar solo on the entire album, and the two guitarists go nuts throughout the entire song. Drummer River Sticks has a simplistic playing style that works well and adds to the classic rock ‘n’ roll vibe the band was aiming for; the cowbell parts on “Twas a Lie” are genius. Bassist Jaytanic Ritual’s spooky bass lines add suspense to the album overall. “Hariette Mae” straight-up sounds like it came out of a horror film.
The songwriting isn’t genius and enough has been said about the vocals, but ‘Goodnight My Children’ isn’t all terrible. Besides, maybe Sutch’s vocals are an acquired taste; everyone hears things differently. As an experiment, it was worth trying out the poppier side of rock ‘n’ roll, but psychedelia and doom metal seem to suit The Neptune Power Federation way better.
‘Goodnight My Children’ will be released on March 8, 2024 through Cruz Del Sur Music.
