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It tells you pretty much everything you need to know that White Skull have put out three albums in the last decade and nobody really noticed. Back when the Italian scene was booming, they got attention for having a female singer and a more Grave Digger kind of sound than the highly symphonic approach of most of their countrymen, but nowadays they seem like a band who have long passed their sell-by date and don't seem to have any idea how to write actual metal songs anymore.

The guitars here are firmly pushed into the background in favor of keys, drums, and Federica De Boni's vocals. Now, I am all for Federica, but she has a very rough voice that does not stand up to the kind of glossy closeup recording this gives her. She was always notable more for her energy and charisma than the quality of her singing, but this album puts her front and center like she was a pop idol. The riffs are sad remnants of the kind of lively stuff this band used to play in the old days, mostly just serving as background rhythm strumming. That leaves nothing for the songs to build on besides bad vocal melodies and choruses that would be painful enough if they didn't get repeated endlessly. Here and there, like on the opening of "Black Ship," White Skull seem to wake up and act like a real metal band for a bit, but it doesn't last. Nobody has been paying much attention to this band for the past 20 years or so, and one listen to this album will demonstrate why that is.