IN THIS MOMENT: Mother (ALTERNATIVE METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Since its beginnings, In This Moment has never stopped growing and developing their art, which has long been able to go beyond the borders of metalcore. The mighty Atlantic was not mistaken in this, sensing in this formation something other than the vehicle of a sexy female singer destined to titillate a horde of pimply teenagers. In This Moment is not Butcher Babies!

"Black Widow" (2014) and even more so "Ritual" (2017) rightly demonstrated that Maria Brink and her band are to be counted on. So certainly, without her blonde figurehead, combining licentious charisma and a vocal register as powerful as it changes, the Californian combo wouldn't be what it is. And neither would his success. "Mother", his seventh effort, of course, highlights her, if only because of its title with its very strong symbolism. It thus takes on many meanings, evoking both "mother nature", source of life, and the Virgin, mother of all, a representation which is certainly not to displease the singer whose religion has always inspired her and whose first name, Maria, is a derivative of Mary.

The track that gives its name to the opus or 'Holy Man' and 'God Is She' testify to a spiritual questioning that never ceases to haunt the lady. Using a suave voice, almost plaintive at times ('Lay Me Down'), she distils a troubled religiosity torn between good and evil. Sweet or angry in turn, her singing admirably embodies this duality. But once again, to reduce In This Moment to the sole presence of Maria, however magnetic it may be, would be regrettable as (more than ever) she finds in songs chiseled like a goldsmith's work, a precious casket.

In fact, "Mother" impresses as much by its abundant score as by the palette full of nuances in which its brushes are dipped, far, so far away from metalcore that the band still carries like a clumsy label. From the heavy and dark 'Fly Like An Eagle' to the moving final breath 'Into Dust' where the priestess is accompanied only by a piano and discreet orchestrations, the menu illustrates the ambition and the requirement that the Americans are now showing. From this altarpiece, we will notably retain the pulsating 'The In-Between', the electro 'As Above So Below' or the trippy 'Born In Flames' with its lascivious curvature. In the middle, we are all surprised to come across a cover of Queen's 'We Will Rock You' that Maria shares with Lizzy Hale from Halestorm and Taylor Momsen from The Pretty Reckless, a personal and inspired reinterpretation. Let's not forget to underline the title song, the epicentre of the listening, with its immersive atmosphere.

So "Mother" is once again a great record, imagined by a band with an unlimited talent that continues to refine its art. Metalcore or alternative metal, no matter what label is attached to it, this album shelters a metal anchored in its time, dark and sensual, rich of a depth of tone and lineage. - Official website

IN THIS MOMENT

MOTHER

ATLANTIC RECORDS

ALTERNATIVE METAL