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Based on the lurid image of a half-naked, evil nun in a sea of fire, I was expecting something quite different from Raleigh, North Carolina's Widow and their fourth album, Life's Blood. Rather than demonic Heavy Metal a la Mercyful Fate, Life's Blood is straightforward Traditional Heavy Metal. The riffs and melodies are out of the early 80s U.S. scene, before the hair bands took over. The guitars sound similar to early works by the likes of Dokken and Lizzy Borden while John Wooten's vocals have a definite NWOBHM vibe. He possesses a clean voice with a relatively limited range (at least on this album) and isn't particularly distinctive, but it suits the music well enough.

Life's Blood is most entertaining when Widow cranks up the speed on tracks like "Lady Twilight" and "Take Hold of the Night." The band's energy jumps right out of the speakers. The rest of the album is mid-paced and has a flow that rocks along and even the ballad, "Another Fallen Angel," which is not overly sappy, fits right in.

Pre-MTV U.S. and NWOBHM-style Traditional Metal fans should take notice of Widow. Life's Blood falls just short of great, but it is solid, fun and consistently good. That works for me.