Deadly Passions is the third album by Kentucky-based, female-fronted rockers Hydrogyn.  The band caused quite a stir with their Michael Wagener produced album, Bombshell, a couple of years back, giving themselves a tough task to continue to progress on this follow-up but luckily opening track “Rejection” kicks things off with a true metal riff straight out of the Judas Priest handbook and proves that vocalist Julie Westlake has far more than just great looks as her voice has power and emotion and very much adds to the overall sound of the band. 

Hydrogyn are certainly not a one-trick pony or over-reliant on a female singer as a selling point. The songs are strong and varied in terms of style, thus giving appeal across several rock genres, from the out and out metallers to the nu-breed alternative-type rock sound. Title track, “Deadly Passions” being a prime example with some absolutely killer riffs throughout and in fact the quality of the guitar work on the whole album is excellent. 

Virtually every song has a great chorus which I always love to hear, although I’m not sure about the choice of covers (a rocked-up version of Alanis Morrisette’s “You Oughta Know”) which, whilst sung well, really doesn't improve on the original. I can understand the band including covers on their previous album and releasing their version of “18 & Life” as a single to help the spread the word but they are now at a stage in their career where it is simply not necessary as the strength of their own song writing is more than good enough to see them stand on their own two feet.

Overall Deadly Passions, as an album, is very impressive. Bombshell really announced the band to the wider world, so this album had the feeling of that difficult second album and as everyone knows the sophomore effort is just so important to a band’s career and with this release Hydrogyn have taken several strides forward and have emerged as a credible and quality band and certainly one of the very best female-fronted hard rock bands around today. Recommended.

Paul Williams