Lisa Smith’s Powerhaus – Maze of Souls

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Powerhaus are a Canadian four-piece formed in 2006 by vocalist Lisa Smith and veteran guitarist and solo artist Chuck Page, drawing their influences from many of the great rock and metal bands of all time, including Whitesnake, Judas Priest and Queensrÿche, although their sound isn’t really like any of these. Each track sees Page deliver great bluesy, southern, rock ‘n’ roll riffs with equal parts muscle and groove, while the vocals melodies are written to match. What lets almost every track down is the bizarre effect on Lisa Smith’s voice. It makes her sound like she’s singing in some cavernous space, standing a good 50 feet from the microphone, with some unnecessary distortion for good measure. The lower tones she uses on blues rock romp Rat masque the effects a little and this is one of the track which suffers least, as does the Thin Lizzy-esque Innocence Lost, but harder tracks like Red Door and 50 Ft Chain, which both raise hopes dramatically with their opening riffs, take a huge turn for the worse when the vocals kick in. It’s a shame that the vocal effects, which could easily be mistaken for simply poor quality recording, detract so much from many of the songs, because in terms of the music and the vocal melodies, this should have been a first-rate rock album.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2009, Albums, Hard Rock, Quick.Play Reviews, Lisa Smith's Powerhaus