As I alluded to in my previous reviews for Huntress and A Sound of Thunder, there is a new breed of female metal vocalist that is providing a fresh new sound to the genre known as heavy metal. No disrespect intended to fine operatic soprano vocalists such as Simone, Tarja Turunen, or Floor Jansen. You can add the name Christine Davis of Christian Mistress to this list of up and coming “old school” female metal vocalists. This is not to say that Davis sounds anything like Jill Janus or Nina Osegueda. On the contrary, Davis does not have the spectacular vocal range or theatrics of any of the aforementioned sirens. What she does have is an alluring, smoky quality to her voice that is reminiscent of late 70’s and early 80’s era metal and punk rock. The Christian Mistress sound can best be described as taking the raw doom metal of early Black Sabbath, the punk-metal drumming style of early Motorhead, and the heavy blues of Led Zeppelin. This can definitely be heard in the guitar interplay between Oscar Sparbel and Ryan McClain. The riffs on songs like “Over & Over” and Pentagram and Crucifex” have an Iomni meets Page quality to them. The Tony Iomni influence is especially felt on the title track, which is also one of the strongest offerings on the album. Bassist Johnny Wulf and drummer Rueben Storey lay down a solid precise foundation that keeps the music tight and energetic. Christian Mistress has been dubbed a “throwback” band. While this may be an over-used description, it works in this circumstance. The songs are not long, most are under five minutes, as you might guess by the albums total running time of less than forty-five minutes. The band saves the best for last with the frenzied attack of “All Abandon”. If you like your metal music over-produced and polished to perfection with multi-layered harmony vocals, you can look elsewhere. “Possession” is a no-frills, heavy, sludge, raw, and most definitely “Metal”.  

Rating: 7.5