Possession

Recording information: Louder Studios, Grass Valley, CA (06/21/2011-07/31/2011).Christian Mistress' second formal release -- and first full album, if one counts Agony & Opium as an EP -- finds the Olympia quintet in even stronger form than before, the group's eager embrace of early-'80s metal energy and singing coming together with a bang once again. Starting with the rollicking kick of "Over and Over," Christine Davis again proves to be the unmistakable core of the whole thing, her passionately throaty voice proving to be one of the best from that neck of the Pacific Northwest yet, a worthy descendant of Heart's Wilson sisters at their powerful best, mixed with just that much more kick to stand up to the chugging sprawl and slam of the group. Perfectly titled songs, like "Haunted Hunted" and "Pentagram and Crucifix," capture the kind of surging and stately crunch that the band make to a T, the precision in the solos matched with a brawling punch in riffs and rhythms. Said sprawl c