Mares of Thrace - The Pilgrimage

If you still don't believe that there're chicks that can crank out heavy tunes as well as dudes. Check out Mares of Thrace.I had never heard of noise-doom duo Mares of Thrace until I received their new album for review. But according to the press release, their debut album The Moulting apparently made many Metal Album of 2011 lists in their native Canada. And while I have a hard time enjoying the more edgy doom metal stylings, this dynamic duo knows how to make a heavy groove sound good.

The whole shebang is held together by Thérèse Lanz (guitar/vocals) and Stefani MacKichan (drums), two chicks you would walk past on the street and probably never realize they can totally rock the shit out of a stage. If you require proof, check some of their impressive videos on YouTube to get a sense of the tightly wound mayhem they unleash on their audience. You'd find chunks of the Pussycat Dolls in their stools. And it's not that I don't dig doom metal, it's just that sometimes it's just too heavy (especially with the Angela Gossow-like screaming), and I find myself enjoying the more laid back moments, as on The Three-Legged Courtesan... or the opening to The Goat Thief. Still, there are some really great moments on this album that take me back to high school when I would have given my left nut to be in a band like this.

The Bottom Line: You know that indefinable quality of rock and roll that makes it so cool and alluring when you're young (where you just think "this is...bad-ass!")? Well these chicks radiate that with music that's raw but tight. You can't fuck with this groove!

Tracks to Make You Wanna Get Your Mind Right: The Goat Thief, The Three-Legged Courtesan..., ...and the Bird Surgeon

- Genghis can hardly believe that two quiet-looking chicks can rock this hard...