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Album Details

• Artist: March Into Paris
• EP:
Beautiful Chaos
• Label: indie
• Year of Release: 2011
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: mark_morton on 2011-07-15

March Into Paris is what happens when you take AFI, Faith No More, and Smashing Pumpkins, puree them in a blender, and mold the frothy film on top into a rock goddess of a singer. It is one of those bands that if you heard them on a college radio station, you would think they were pretty cool and wouldn't mind hearing them again. But if you then went to a music festival, they would be that one band perform on the side stage that would mop the floor with every artist that preceded them, giving the headliner a run for its money; thereby transforming you (and everyone else who bore witness) into an instant diehard fan.

Right from the launch of "Ordinary Envy," singer Jennifer Valdez knocks you on your backside with the infectious conviction of Dale Bozzio (Missing Persons) and the steel-eyed vibrancy of Pat Benatar. The secret to March Into Paris' magical brew is that they begin with generic shoegaze and supercharge it into fist-banging rock anthems. The songwriting revolves around desperate, emotional melancholy with a herion-laced injection of voracious, heavy metal attitude. Valdez holds this volatile package together, keeping the listeners transfixed during the broiling proceedings, and leaving them salivating for more, once the high has subsided.

Many hard-edged bands with female vocalists take the conventional (tried and re-tread) route of exploiting over-the-top, melodramatic Gothicism; for examples, see Lacuna Coil, In This Moment, Nightwish, Within Temptation, Evanescence, We Are the Fallen...and the list goes on forever (especially in Europe). But very few are willing (or daring) to yank the gloves off, throw down, and just let the rock flow. Thankfully, March Into Paris has arrived to fill that void.

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