Band:	Morgana
Album:	Rose Of Jericho
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	June 2011

01. Alive...
02. Love Me the Way I Am
03. Golden Hours
04. Lady Winter
05. 610
06. Bang Bang [Sonny Bono cover]
07. I Will Not Turn Back
08. How Do You Feel
09. ... And Kickin'
10. Lady Winter [acoustic version]

Morgana? "Rose Of Jericho"? A girl on the cover? Derivative female-fronted gothic-y stuff, right? Well, hum, no. This is some old school hard-rock/heavy metal. Good news, don't you think? Quite sadly, no, as it's actually pretty lame.

Shit, I've spoiled the suspense already.

Morgana Delaude herself seems to be a legend in the Italian scene of old hard-rock/heavy metal; it's a pretty easy guess to say she always had ladies like Lita Ford, Cher (see the "Bang Bang" cover - it's a classic Sonny Bono song, which the guy wrote for his wife Cher back in 1966), and probably Doro too, as idols. She released a few demos, EPs and albums at various points during the last 25 years -that's a long story made short here. Now, this Rose Of Jericho is her new release, after many years out of the music business. So, "Love Me Way I Am"? Why not, but it's a definite no-go for the music, however. Almost all the album is boring, tedious, and drags itself through drowsy mid-tempo stuff. The songs (written by Tolmmy Talamanca from Sadist) are quite uninteresting, I must say, except maybe "Golden Hours", which is easily the best one out there: it's catchy, with a bit of aggression thrown in, and the singing is more soulful (and powerful) than everywhere else. Plus Morgana doesn't lisp here, compared to most other songs - just check "Lady Winter" if you don't believe me. I don't know if it's a production trick or whatever, but it worsens the whole stuff - which already didn't need that.

I can't compare to her earlier works, but this CD is obviously not worthy of anyone considered to be a "Metal Queen" back in the eighties. It lacks power, emotion, even the singing is barely above average. Fans of the style should give it a try, just in case, but all in all they'd better be listening a Lita Ford album, for example.