QUEEN MARY

"This is a CD for those of us who have stopped hoping to ever hear anything that sounds remotely fresh or new. QUEEN MARY get ten points for originality, though there are some bands you think of when you here the music. The vocals, designed for your mind every time, by Mary Pastorius remind me of Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins), not the voice but the style of singing and the phrasing. But it is still very personal. Another band that comes to mind is Japan or to be more precise, Mick Karn, the bass player of Japan. This because QUEEN MARY's Dave Pastorius plays the bass in a similar way. This is good since Mick Karn is one of my favourite bass players of all time. The music is a strange brew of rock, goth, trip hop, wave, new romantic and a touch of industrial. It's really tasteful and mature, and I mean that in the best of ways. The music is on the dark side but naturally so, it doesn't feel fake in any way. They definitely have a future, the songs are that good, and I'd be very disappointed if this is the last I hear of QUEEN MARY. Their music defies definition and categorisation. A great band with a great personality and an identity of it's own." /Magnus Nilsson - Moving Hands Music Magazine

"The closest you can come to seeing beauty with your eyes closed is by listening to the haunting tones of Mary Pastorius (who could probably make a shopping list sound erotic), spellcasting vocalist with pop industrialists QUEEN MARY. But don’t be fooled into thinking this is a one woman show, no siree bob! QUEEN MARY's musicians happen to be masters of their own art too, in setting the mood and dragging you into a fantastical world of synth-pop and darkwave ambiance, stopping at nothing short of genius to ply their trade. Voted "CD you’d most like to make out to" here at Grave H.Q, this is an essential piece of listening which I would defy anyone to be disappointed in." - Grave 2002© - Darkcell Digital Music

"WOW! This is exceptional! Female fronted, extremely dark and brooding electronics fused with alternative rock elements. I cannot stop listening to these tracks!"

"An intense, well-produced, female fronted alternative band with touches of darkness in each song. Fiercely original and a definite star in the making." -MBI - MBI

"Locura 10 Song demoLITION by QUEEN MARY is a strong collection of songs that showcase the talents of this quartet from Florida. Listening to it, I'm hearing all the right things in all the right places, most apparent of those right things being the vocals. There's something spellbinding about singer Mary Pastorius' voice. Something smooth, sultry, and kinda sinister, but in a very enticing way. Add that to David Pastorius' bass mastery and assorted electronic sounds and beats, and you have the recipe for a rather impressive listening experience...

The slow beat of October opens the album, playing underneath treated vocals inviting and enticing you deeper into the music. You can't help but be drawn in, shuffled along by a hypnotic tattoo played on the snare, led by that voice. A heavy pulse in Feeding the Disguise breaks the spell, but by this time you're so far into the disc that removing yourself will take too much effort. Better to surrender to it's charms, let QUEEN MARY do the driving.

Skipping ahead a little bit Come puts a bit of a club spin on the proceedings, a funky bass line punctuating Mary's sultry vocals. "I love you love you love you on the dance floor..." Mmmmmmmmm, I think we can all relate to that idea... Have you ever noticed that all the best dance songs have an equal mix of enticement and tension? I think that Locura have noticed, and they've made it work very effectively here.

Buff (Welcome to the House of) shows a playful side of QM, a whining keyboard line playing overtop a shaking drumbeat, seductive in the way that all the best instrumentals are. Credit for this one goes to keyboard player Eric Young, who's electronic wizardry plays throughout the disc. Being a keyboard player myself I can appreciate the talent here...

It's the last two tracks that impress me the most though... Lullaby is a beautiful ballad of sorts, featuring Mary's vocals winding through a repeated bass line, sparse, simple, and all together brilliant. Whoa. Whoa I say...

Take is the album closer, a hypnotic piece where layers of sound are added with each verse, resulting in a riveting, spellbinding climax, which ends at just the right moment to leave you breathing for more. Brilliant, simply brilliant...

So to sum up. QUEEN MARY's "Locura, Ten Song demoLITION", awesome vocals, awesome bass, awesome keyboards, "I love you love you love you on the dance floor...", Lullaby: brilliant, Take: brilliant. Any questions? No? Good. Go buy the disc now. You'll be glad you did... "

This review by rik from - the - violet - collection -


- The Violet Collection

"This song is labeled as "Alternative", which is vague, because "Ready Right Now" is so unique that it deserves to be labeled as a genre of its own. It is truly original, which makes it so great to listen to that you will want to play it over and over again. This song is very fresh, very catchy, and very good!" -STRANGE-WAV
- STRANGE-WAV

"Their subtle blends of musical mastery and simplicity are what makes Queen Mary so powerful! Vocalist Mary Pastorius has a way of wording complex topics into simple phrases,and then painting images (sonically) into your head." - SHOVEL (from Florida) - SHOVEL

"Modern music has become a desolate wasteland populated by faceless drones devoid of musical identity. Hovering above this apocalyptic landscape Mary releases sky tears of sonic energy as she is crowned with a tiara of individuality." - SONGWRITER