Band:	The Lion's Daughter
Album:	Bath House
Style:	Hardcore, Blackened sludge metal
Release date:	October 2023

01. Bath House
02. Maximize Terror
03. Your Pets Died On TV
04. Liminal Blue
05. Rerouted
06. 12-31-89
07. Crawler Night
08. She Does Not Exist
09. End Credits

The Lion's Daughter had already established a unique and successful sound for themselves on Skin Show, yet Bath House demonstrates that they’re not content to stand still. Experimentation is admirable, particularly when people would be happy for you to stick with what you’re already doing; however, experimentation can produce variable results.

Skin Show received a deserved nomination in the sludge metal category of the 2021 Metal Storm Awards, but that classification was not as obvious as it had once been. In reviewing Skin Show, Radu highlighted that The Lion's Daughter started off as a more straight sludge band, with influences from the likes of black metal and hardcore, but Future Cult began an experimentation with synths that was expanded on Skin Show, which was filled with John Carpenter-esque 80s synths, and quirks from styles such as goth rock and industrial. It would have been easy to commit further to the ‘80s horror sludge’ niche that they were establishing, but based on the evidence of Bath House, The Lion's Daughter are considering to depart from said niche almost as suddenly as they arrived in it.

Synths are still present on Bath House, and take a leading role on occasions such as “12-31-89” and “She Does Not Exist”, but they’ve definitely shifted more towards the background, adding flourishes on certain songs, like “Liminal Blue” and “Crawler’s Night”, instead of being a consistently present and influencing feature. That’s not the only change though; The Lion's Daughter have simultaneously gone in multiple directions away from sludge. On the one hand, tracks such as “Maximize Terror” are thrashier than anything on the previous record; conversely, other songs opt for an approach more tethered to alternative metal, with “Rerouted” and “Bath House” among them.

Now, one band that can claim a connection at different points of their career to thrash and alt metal is Machine Head, and that serves as a convenient segue into what is likely to be the most controversial aspect of Bath House. The vocals on Skin Show were consistently of a harsh roared style, and Rick Giordano continues to use this tool in his arsenal, but he has added to it with a cleaner sing-shout approach rather reminiscent of Robb Flynn. Now, this approach is by no means going to resonate with everyone; I must confess that the shouted vocals and the alt-metal chorus of “Rerouted” together make for a strongly unpleasant experience. However, I find the brief cleaner vocal snippets during the tremolo parts of “12-31-89” fit well, and add to what is generally one of the stronger (and sludgier) features on Bath House.

As for the rest of this album, I feel that it’s something of a mixed bag. It is eclectic, and as a consequence I think it’s quite likely that people will find themselves latching onto different songs to others. For me, the blackened intro to “Crawler’s Night” is a good lead into a solid black/thrash cut with a surprising yet successful contrast of lighter clean singing in the blasting chorus, and an equally solid combination of the synths and soloing guitar later on. I’m also quite impressed by how well The Lion's Daughter’s softer approach works on “Liminal Blue”, with the atmospheric drumming, softer vocals, tremolo guitar lines and underlying synths working well together. On the flip side, I can happily go without listening any more to the Machine Head tribute chorus in the title track.

Despite my reservations, I would still say Bath House overall is a successful effort from The Lion's Daughter, and especially so in its post-“Rerouted” second half. In terms of future directions for the band, I’m not sure the Robb Flynn-isms are something that they should double down on, but the ever-expanding musical palette they’re developing is by no means a bad thing.