Review by Daniel for Pretty Maids - Red, Hot and Heavy (1984)

Up until the mid-80's the Danes hadn’t been a regular contributor to the global heavy metal phenomenon with only the legendary & highly influential Mercyful Fate making much of an impact on the early European scene. But 1984 would see that start to change quite quickly with three or four Danish releases making a notable impact, including one that came from a five-piece outfit from Horsens sporting the particularly lame moniker of Pretty Maids. Now why in Satan’s name any budding young metal musician would choose that name for their band is beyond me. In fact, they actually began their career under the name Pretty Pretty Panick which isn’t much better it has to be said. Both clearly point to a product that’s far more likely to sound like the LA glam metal scene than anything else but while there’s an undeniable influence here it would be very unfair to toss Pretty Maids in with the likes of Warrant or Poison.

The band’s story began in 1981 with a self-financed demo resulting in a recording deal with English record label Bullet Records. A self-titled & quite well respected six-song EP would finally see the light of day in 1983 & it would see Pretty Maids making a very successful trek to the UK where they would showcase their strong live show. The buzz around the band saw them upgrading their recording contract with CBS Records in 1984 & the band’s debut album “Red, Hot & Heavy” would see the light of day later the same year; an album that would go on to be quite a success.

Now the first thing you’ll notice about the “Red, Hot & Heavy” album is the professionalism of the overall package. The quality of the sound production is very good for the time & this is certainly a long way from the primitive NWOBHM debuts that had flooded the market in the earlier part of the 80's. In fact, the New Wave is at the complete other end of the spectrum to Pretty Maids. There’s a lot more polish & gloss about them with more expansive arrangements including the extensive use of keyboards & other random studio effects. But that’s not necessarily a good thing mind you. I don't use the term “over-produced” all that often but this album is a fine example of an over-produced record. The use of keyboards & additional frills is excessive & I think this element only has a negative impact on the overall result. Fans of European power metal might disagree on that though because I can hear a lot of influence on the later European scene here.

Vocalist Ronnie Atkins has a fairly broad range of styles in his repertoire & for every cleaner & more melodic phrase you’ll get a more aggressive & grunty passage that reminds me quite a bit of Tank’s Algy Ward at times. The musicianship is excellent & it’s very clear that Pretty Maids are more than capable musicians. If I’m honest, the combination of skilled musicality & bright production values is a bit of a drawcard for me despite the overly zealous production.

Musically, I’d suggest that this is a traditional heavy metal album at its core. I’ve seen numerous examples of people claiming it as a rock record but that’s definitely not the case. Having said that though there are definitely a few more rock driven tracks with a couple sounding perfectly suited to the glam metal label. Actually, you can tell that Pretty Maids have cut their teeth playing a more commercial brand of hard rock music in the way that they handle themselves. There’s a very strong focus on melody here that can overstep the cheese line at times but it’s hard to deny the quality of most of the hooks on offer; even in the cheesier songs on the tracklisting. Sure there are a couple of weaker numbers here but nothing too awful with a fairly consistent level of quality. As I mentioned earlier, there’s a definitely power metal edge to a couple of the songs & the use of keyboards provides an even tighter link to that particular subgenre but fear not… it’s not all cheesy pop hooks here. Some of the more metal material is pretty exciting & Pretty Maids even reach speed metal intensity on a couple of tracks.

To summarize, this is a more than decent heavy metal album. I don’t love the overall concept but the execution provides more than enough to keep me interested. Pretty Maids remind me a lot of Danish hard rockers Krokus in that way. Krokus are nothing more than AC/DC clones which on paper doesn’t sound like something I’d have much time for but in practice I find their impressive delivery very hard to resist & I feel a similar way about Pretty Maids. I'd recommend you give it a crack if you like a more polished & professional brand of European heavy metal.