Musical Style: Metal / Hard Rock	Produced By:
Record Label: Independent / Roxx Records	Country Of Origin: USA
Year Released: 1996 / 2024	Artist Website:
Tracks: 7	Rating: 75%
Running Time: 24:46

It’s well produced, ably written and derivative of eighties melodic metal and hard rock, all traits that make A Glow In The Dark Age, the 1996 independent debut 7-song EP from The Princess Project, a winner in our book.  There is only one problem, however: the album arrived ten years too late to the musical party.  Have A Glow In The Dark Age come out in the mid-eighties, and The Princess Project would musically and lyrically be in the thick of things alongside Bride, Barren Cross, Bloodgood, Saint, Messiah Prophet and a host of others.  The album, otherwise, got lost in the shuffle of a nineties hard music scene with the modern sounds and Seattle infused grunginess to go in hand.

Despite such misgivings, The Princess Project is not lacking star power.  It begins with how the group features guitarists Chris Steberl, who has recorded three instrumental metal albums under the Project Alcazar moniker, and Steve Theado, part of bluesy hard rock band American Dog with eight albums under its belt.  It also includes how Stryper timekeeper Robert Sweet rounds out The Princess Project lineup.  Recruiting the trio is talented front lady Judah Mikah, whom takes a ‘tough girl’ vocal approach in which she exudes significant amounts of assertive backbone that proves a perfect fit for the groups high octane eighties influenced metal sounds.

Good news is that despite being an out of print and hard to find collectors item, A Glow In The Dark Age was re-issued by Roxx Records in March of 2024 on CD and vinyl (500 and 200 copies, respectively).  Re-mastering attributes to Rob Colwell (Bombworks Sound) and layout and design to Scott Waters (No Life Til Metal Graphics).

Steberl wrote the music to albums first four songs, beginning with opener “Forgive”.  The songs delicately woven instrumental acoustic first minute brings to mind Chosen Stranger’s “So Glad” (off Underground Metal from 1988).  From that point on, however, it is all get up: traditional metal-fueled guitars, Sweet’s intricate drum signatures and Mikah’s passionately brazen vocals.  Lending a contrasting lightening effect are chanted children choir vocals ahead of the equally enticing refrain.  Lyric snippet:

I’m a child of the King of Kings
Let all of God’s children sing
We all fall down before the King
Mary had the Lamb of God
Life is not a dream

Bow down, Lucifer, all hail the power
Bow down, Jesus Christ is God
He is giving you His kingdom
Eternal life is free  

“Deliver Me” upholds the tempestuous moments.  Another calmly done instrumental opening gets things going - lightly done guitar and ringing bells - ahead of galloping riffs taking over as the song ruminates on the Beatitudes in subtle as a punch in the jaw metal fashion.  Periodically song transitions back to a calmer setting only to storm back to its advancing ways, with Steberl’s classically influenced guitar work tying both sides of the fence together.  Lyric snippet:

Fear of death entangles me
Destruction overwhelms me
Hands of the grave coil around me
In my despair I cry out

My Father who art in Heaven
Hallowed be Thy name
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done
On Earth as in Heaven

Give us this day our daily bread
Forgive us and those who sin against us
My God do not lead me into temptation

“The Gate” does not miss a beat in launching to a full on guitar assault, rushing forward in touching upon speed metal but with a worshipful flair, found in the aggressively repeated ‘we will rejoice, we will rejoice’ phrasing throughout.  Steberl shines with his neo-classical soloing (somewhat akin to Carl Johan Grimmark of Narnia), as does Sweet in adding a well-aimed double kick drum punch.  Lyric snippet:

Suffer the children to come unto the King
Allow all God’s children to come
Into His mighty Kingdom
This is the day that the Lord has made
We will rejoice, we will rejoice

Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace
Son of God, King of Kings
We will rejoice, we will rejoice

We will dance through the valley
Of the shadow of death
We will fear nothing

It cannot be understated the resounding impact to Mikah’s delivery, whom while projection filled and melodic at the same time, brings an almost shouted flair that would make her a qualified candidate to front a thrash band.

I find “Blood Brothers” most accessible of the first four.  Song finds Mikah backing from some of her previous bellicose touches and taking a somewhat more even stance instead.  It works, as revealed in manner in which the song plays up a choice melody and driving hooks while not backing from the group’s abject heaviness.  Guitars bring a bluesy (and quite complementary) touch.  Lyric snippet:

I am the Way, the Truth and the Life
You get to the Father by Me
What we have in store for you
No ear has heart nor eye has ever seen

Straight is the gate, narrow the way that leads you to the Song
Heavenly Father forgive them, they know not what they’ve done

They crucified your Son
My brother never killed or lied
He was more than just a man

Final three cuts composed by Theado take an altered stance to point it is almost akin to listening to a different band.  “Serpent’s Son”, for instance, starts to several seconds of Middle Eastern influenced rhythms ahead of industrial style keyboards fading in (sort of like Deliverance’s Assimilation).  That said, The Princess Project stays true to its forward metal proclivity in that guitars hit hard as ever, with the lone difference found in how Mikah takes an almost spoken word vocal approach but interspersed with periodic appearances of the Middle Eastern nuances. 

Final songs do not hold up as well.  Problem is that each is too short for my taste, with “Hatchet” just under two minutes as an ominous and creepy doom-tinged instrumental with haunting keyboards, and “Driftwood” lengthier at two and half minutes with vocals returning to a heavy hitting form in joined b shouted backing vocals and technical double kick drum.  Neither is bad musically, rather I wish each received opportunity to build and grow musically by appending an extra minute or two time wise.

A Glow In The Dark Age potentially equate to a tale of two cities musical scenario, with albums first half devoted to eighties metal and hard rock and second maintaining similar proclivities but with elements of experimental industrial thrown in.  It mostly works in that I best identify with the first four songs.  Add another four or five of similar quality and musical direction (to turn album into a full-length release), and I would up the final grade to the 80% to 85% range.  Still, quality at hand in terms of vocals, musicianship and production make the Roxx Records re-issue a necessary purchase for fans of female fronted hard music.

Review by Andrew Rockwell

Track Listing: “Forgiven” (5:16), “Deliver Me” (4:46), “The Gate” (4:00), “Blood Brother” (3:04), “Serpent’s Kiss” (3:19), “Hatchet” (1:47), “Driftwood” (2:34)

Musicians
Judah Mikah - Lead Vocals
Chris Steberl - Guitars
Steve Theado - Guitars & Programming
John Leyen - Keyboards
Robert Sweet - Drums