Rose Kemp - Unholy Majesty

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

4...according to our Ant on Thu 20 Nov, 2008.

24 hours later...I have now redeemed my self and eaten a salad and am listening to the Rose Kemp 'Unholy Majesty' LP on Aurora Borealis. This was recently released on CD by One Little Indian. It's not as doomy and evil sounding as the stuff Aurora Borealis put out although it is a dark beast. Slow and brooding post metal is the order of the day. Big boombastic sounds full of tension and drama. She has a powerful vocal and can belt it out. You can hear the Sabbath/ Melvins, Earth, Om, influence. Not bad at all, but no where near as cool as the stuff that influenced it. Nice sleeve on 180g vinyl too.

Rose’s unique powerful vocal is sometimes operatic, sometimes fierce but equally haunting, her musical style is extremely difficult to categorize, folk-esque /heavy rock has previously been cited but doesn’t really sum up this exceptional album. Woven together with multi hook harmonies and quality instrumentation, this album slowly buries itself under your skin. Lyrically the songs are compelling and their content somewhat mysterious but backed up with heavy rock guitars, oversized drums, old synths and organs, they are infectious and thought provoking. Rose’s influences are numerous but include the classic rock of Black Sabbath, alternative rock legends The Melvins and drone artists such as Earth and Om. She is also influenced by classic Black Metal, Doom and 70’s prog right through to timeless songwriters including Kate Bush and Tom Waits, amongst many others.

Part of folk-rock heritage, Rose is the daughter of Maddy Prior and Rick Kemp from seminal, Pioneering British band Steeleye Span. As a young teenager she sang and toured and occasionally wrote with her parents various different projects including Steeleye Span (who still gig today), and her life on the road began when she was knee-high, accompanying her parents on tour. Her first recorded & writing contributions were on 2002’s a cappella folk album ‘Bib And Tuck’ by Maddy Prior And The Girls, released on Park Records. The same record label released Rose’s debut solo album ‘Glance’ the following year, before she hit the road with The Oyster Band and Eliza Carthy among others. But Rose was ready to find her own way and continue to branch out of the tradition, trading her acoustic guitar for an electric guitar, taking her in the rock direction we hear today.

Rose has been working on many collaborations and various side projects as ever. Having recently supported Oceansize and Amplifier.

The album was produced and mixed by Chris Sheldon (Foo Fighters/Amplifier/Biffy Clyro.)

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