A self proclaimed concept album? Outside of the metal genre, such a thing is something of a rarity these days but Therina Bella has released one called "Let's Hold Hands And Watch The World End". The concept? To quote the press release: " What if you spent your entire life searching for your soul mate only to discover once you've found them that the world was about to end?"
Sounds suitably dramatic and just the sort of thing that Jim Steinman would have readily embraced back in the day. However, Therina Bella is careful to avoid pretension here and although there are grandiose moments ("Up In Flames" would surely find friends in the set lists of the most bombastic of rock bands) she runs her concept straight from start to finish leading me to inevitably comment about how unusual it is for an album these days to be designed as a whole rather than as merely a storage device for a few singles.
As a performer, it has to be said that Therina Bella throws herself into her songs with gusto becoming positively theatrical in "Hands Off" before throwing her all into the big finale in "Ether". So, whilst "Let's Hold Hands And Watch The World End" marks the welcome return of the concept album, it might also herald the return of another oft thought lost musical institution, the rock opera. Reading through the lyrics, right before my eyes I could see a script just calling out to be written…
Available from CD Baby.