Christian Mistress – Children of the Earth

In many ways, Christian Mistress were a band ahead of their time. Not musically speaking, as they draw heavily from the well of all things ’80s and old school, but in the sense that their initial run predated the NWOTHM explosion by just a hair. During the first half of the ’10s, the masses were obsessed with pizza thrash, hipster black metal, and prosaic stoner/doom. If it sounded like Judas Priest or anything adjacent, forget it. This mindset unfortunately left Christian Mistress in the dust, making their 2022 reunion the first NWOTHM nostalgia draw (I can’t believe I’m typing that).

Acclaimed sets at the 2023 editions of Hell’s Heroes and Northwest Terror Fest left fans wondering if this reunion would extend beyond the stage and result in new material. It took a couple years, but here we are, standing face to face with the first album from the resurrected Christian Mistress, Children of the Earth. In many ways, Children of the Earth does feel like a proper reboot, if only for its simple and straightforward runtime: 8 songs in 33 minutes. Despite their decade long musical absence, Christian Mistress clearly don’t want to overwhelm listeners with a potentially tedious listen, resulting in this all killer, no filler affair.

Children kicks off with the all guns blazing blitz of “City of Gold”. The dramatic riffing and unpredictable key changes remind us just what a cut above the ’80s metal worship crop this band was, and still is for that matter. Admittedly, many of these songs incorporates moody, mystical melodies not far removed from fellow “female-fronted” (another term I loathe) outfit, Lucifer. Yet whereas Lucifer’s point of reference is Sabbath and all things ’70s, Christian Mistress’ is Priest, Mercyful Fate, and the NWOBHM, resulting in esoteric slabs of metal magick like “Love of the World”, “Mythmaker”, and “Shadow”, a haunting specter of a closer.

Amidst this intoxicating eeriness are pedal to the metal heavy rockers which, even at their most carefree, boast a sense of sophistication and class. “Voiceless” is a dark NWOBHM riff-fest if I’ve ever heard one, daring us to air guitar the night away like we would to an old Angel Witch or Diamond Head album (you know the ones). “Demon’s Night” and “Death Blade” are perfect tunes for rolling down your windows, tearing up the freeway, and cranking up the volume to 11. And of course, would it be an old school metal outing without the obligatory Thin Lizzy tinged, twin guitar outburst? I think not. “Lake of Memory” checks off this box just as compelling as Freeways, Freeroad, or any other band with “Free” as a prefix channeling the spirit of Philo.

While it’s been a hot minute since I’ve revisited Christian Mistress’ initial output, from what I recall, I wouldn’t say Children of the Earth is any better or worse than those outings. It’s yet another splendid platter of traditional metal sorcery, that picks up right where they left off. I must say, the musical cohesion of this unit after a decade of musical inactivity might be more impressive than the music itself, and that speaks volumes. If nothing else, Children of the Earth is a shoe-in candidate for metal comeback of 2025, and it’s only March!

8 out of 10

Label: Cruz del Sur Music

Genre: Heavy Metal

For fans of: Sanhedrin, Lucifer, Tower