A third crowdfunded album of hard-edged melodic rock from the Cardiff four-piece Beth Blade & The Beautiful Disasters. Like 2018’s Show Me Your Teeth, it was made at Rockfield studios with producer Nick Brine, here delivering a sound powerful enough to match Beth McDonald’s extraordinary voice.
As the title suggests, there’s a lot going on. Its key word, though, is ‘confession’. Many lyrics speak of dark moments and, importantly, of rising above them. McDonald is not afraid to wear her heart on her sleeve – or, as on the ghastly artwork, rip it out and wave it at you.
Fortunately, the 11 songs are less life-threatening, more life-affirming: witness opener The Otherside or superb be-true-to-yourself anthem Who You Are. Beth Blade & The Beautiful Disasters are also very convincing treading gently on Hold Your Heart (and McDonald is even better on her sublime vocal/ piano solo track I Never Knew – bizarrely only on the CD as one of two bonus tracks).
Throughout the album the band entertain by delivering swinging riffs (Still Not Asking For It), singalong hooks (Tonight I’m With You), or both (Sin Eater). Meanwhile, detours into Maiden-esque territory (Persephone and Ozymandias) suggest bigger stages await.
