Album Review: Black Rose Maze - Black Rose Maze

I've talked before about how many of us have gotten to the point of laughing at 'reality' tv, and singing competitions in particular. It's easy to do, given how phony some of them can come across, but we have to take a step back and remember that there is real talent you can find on those shows, people who are just looking for a break to get their foot in the door. Heck, sometimes it turns out that person you see on a cheesy show turns out to become a great artist, and you would feel like an idiot if you missed out because of a prejudice regarding how they started out. And so, Black Rose Maze comes to us as the vehicle for Rosa Laricchiuta, a former contestant on the Quebec version of "The Voice". She has also been on stage with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, so let's not write her off before we start.

Before the first chorus of "In The Dark" hits, I can already hear why she did so well on the tv show. Rosa has a voice that's perfect for melodic rock, sweet and smooth with just a hint of grit. She would be perfectly at home singing some of the classic 80s Heart power ballads (I'll just say this; those are the Heart songs I love most). She is clearly a talented vocalist with enough charisma to come through on record. She more than holds her own on the duet with Jeff Scott Soto, "Laws Of Attraction". I could hear them putting together one of those popular duets albums, given how their voices sound together.

But even great voices need great songs if they want to create fans. There are a lot of talented singers out there who fly under the radar because they don't have songs people want to listen to. That problem has popped up a few ties recently with artists sharing the same label as Rosa. Thankfully, Rosa's writing and her choices in outside compositions are better than average. She's assembled an album of fairly heavy melodic rock featuring hooky choruses you can easily and quickly sing along with. You need something memorable to make a lasting impression, and this record does a solid job of that.

My favorite moment of the entire record is the beginning of "Look At Me Now", where Rosa is singing with passion over a soft guitar accompaniment. She sounds remarkably like Lzzy Hale in that moment, who just so happens to be the best rock singer of her generation. That comparison is high praise.

There is one thing I have to address; I don't know if it was just the quality of the stream I received, but what I heard was a bit rough and brittle, with drums that sounded like they were clipping every time a cymbol was hit. Both Rosa and the songs are good enough to deserve a better sound than that. It isn't enough to ruin things, but it was noticeable enough for me to be distracted at certain points.

Sometimes you don't need to say a lot about a record to get the point across. I feel that way with this one. Black Rose Maze is giving us some really good, heavy melodic rock. It hits the sweet spot where all four quadrants meet, and should hold appeal for fans of every stripe of hooky hard rock. "Black Rose Maze" is one of the better melodic rock albums I've heard this year, and Rosa is one of the best new singers to pop up recently. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.