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The Mistress in question here (there are several listed at Metal Archives) is a female-fronted Traditional Metal band from Philadelphia, PA. playing a style not unlike Triosphere. There are some good riffs and an excellent guitar sound, decent solos and the voice of singer Deanna Gardas is suitably powerful. Most of the songs on the band's second album, 2013's Heavy Mental, are upbeat odes with typical Heavy Metal titles like "Hell Hole," "Demon" and "Drunk and Mad" and have lyrics to match. Mistress does switch things up a bit with a jazzier, almost 60s-flavored style and tempo on "Four O'Clock Squad" and "Unloved." These songs remind me of Jess and the Ancient Ones, a band I happen to like, but if your tastes don't run in that direction, fear not, the rest of Heavy Mental is undeniably rambunctious.

Mistress isn't breaking any molds but is definitely a cut above the rest in terms of performance and songwriting. Straight-ahead and traditional will always have a place in the world of Heavy Metal and I look forward to future Mistress releases.