Chrissy Steele
Magnet To Steele

Lately, I've been reassessing women, not because of spring or my hormones that are perpetually dormant, but simply because certain albums really deserve attention, like Lee Aaron and Saraya, who I've always considered better than Lita Ford and the statuesque and German Doro Pesch.

It must be said that if I had to rate this album solely based on the beauty of the said female, five stars wouldn't have been enough, that's for sure!

However, I must be objective: I would have wanted to give a few more stars to the album, but I can't this time. In fact, it's only fair to treat "average" albums, which did indeed spark interest at the time, but in the long run were little more than decent.

That's the case with Chrissy Steele, a Canadian and striking woman, endowed with a physique capable of daily scratches, who, along with Brian "Too Loud" MacLeod (Ex Headpins), put together the band of the same name with the album "Magnet To Steele," released in 1991.

The beginning wasn't bad at all with the hit single "Love You 'Til It Hurts": great impact, a powerful vocal performance worthy of a Sebastian Bach, broadly sweeping guitars and a successful melody and refrain! One couldn't start in a better way! However, not everything is class in the rest, and there's just a great alternation: already the following "Armed And Dangerous" is much more anonymous, says little, and seems like many hard rock songs of the era. Things go decidedly better with the powerful "Move Over", a truly edgy and incisive song with Chrissy literally shredding her own voice, proving she can go even beyond! Next comes the slow ballad "Love Don't Last Forever", in whose background vocals we find a certain Mark Slaughter (I'm sure he hooked up with her, I'll bet!), a cute ballad somewhat like Scorpions, but it doesn't add much.

Telling you about the rest of the album would be rather verbose, given that the only other songs worth hearing after the fourth track are the lively and successful "Murder In The First Degree" and the somewhat cloying "Two Bodies". Among the many off notes, a pathetic cover of Romeo's Daughter "Cry Myself To Sleep", the overly long and boring "Two Lips (Don't Make A Kiss)" and the insignificant "Try Me" and "Magnet To Steel".

The greatest asset of this album is undoubtedly Chrissy Steele's voice, very versatile and edgy in the rock parts, sweet and passionate in the calmer ones.

The main flaw was perhaps writing the same songs too hastily, even though unfortunately there's a more than reasonable explanation: Brian "Too Loud" MacLeod, the main composer, soon died of cancer, and his condition was already critical. Yet, Brian still managed to leave behind a handful of good songs before his untimely death, which rightly led to the direct dissolution of the band.

In summary, the album isn't bad, nor is it a great masterpiece, except for a few instances. There's the regret that they would have had to grow a bit more as a band, and probably if they had ever made another album, it might (perhaps) have resulted in something better. It's a shame that this brunette had nothing more to do with music and devoted herself to working in an IT company.