When I first heard singer Kate French back in 1997 on CHASTAIN’S “In Dementia’ I was blown away. She has a gritty growling but Melodic style that’s so unique I would have to put her near or at my top of female Metal singers. The problem is that French has only done a limited amount of work over the years, three albums with CHASTAIN and two with VAINGLORY, who have no re-issued those albums and have remastered them as well.
VAINGLORY was formed by guitarist Corbin King, and after one album with male singer he teamed up with Kate French for their 2007 debut and 2019’s “Manifesting Destiny”. King is a heavy shredder who seems to have influences from the traditional Metal crowd mixed in with Zakk Wylde and the American style of aggression over substance. It’s actually a great mix of styles and I consider him an underrated player in the genre of Power Metal.
King and French make a great combo, her singing style is similar to his guitar style so you get a wall of Power Metal aggression throughout the album. The first track “Comin’ Back” was a bit misleading, it’s more hard, heaving, grooving Rock, which is fine, but after that it’s more of an onslaught of Americanized Power Metal.
Rather than go track by track I’ll give you an overall description of the sound. Corbin mixing blistering speed with some Dimebag Darrell riffs on most songs. The guitars are really thick, almost like a bass guitar with distortion. He also is classically trained as well, so your getting some Malmsteen styles mixed in too. It’s really the best of both worlds to be quite honest.
There’s lots of double-kick in the drums too, the songs aren’t super fast, they just keep the drums quite busy. King could have laid down the drums too, I believe he plays the kit as well, but I didn’t find exactly who played drums here. It would make sense if he did as the drums and guitars often mirrored themselves for an added punch.
Kate French… well she has outdone herself again. She just sounds “nasty” in a very good way. I can’t compare her to anyone in particular but she has the sneer of Stephan Pearcy on steroids. She took over for Leather Leone in CHASTAIN so there’s obvious comparisons, but they also are quite different too. French is a more “bluesy” singer, but she’s well-versed in Rock and Metal. She nails every emphasis and brings the music to life.
Her range is impressive too, she uses the higher ranges for emphasis mostly, but she has range in her styles of aggression too, she’ll even dive into the death vocals style on occasion. Again, she uses her “ranges” as emphasis, which in turn gives her singing depth and dimensions. I just wish we could have heard her even more over the years.
The album is aggressive in nature, plenty of attitude to say the least. The title track, “Face”, “Dead To Me”, “Ballistic”, “Spit” are awesome strait up groove Power Metal tracks. You hear a lot of influence, even some Alice In Chains in the vocals as well. “Waste Of Skin” is one of the highlights and heaviest songs too. It stands out from the rest of the album, much faster and probably the most aggressive on the album. “Getcha Some” was a nice tribute to the Abbot
“Manifesting Destiny” as a whole is amazing and surprisingly fits a wide range of Metal genres. If I had to come up with any criticism it might be in the production. I actually like the song, but perhaps it could be cleaned up a bit, but it’s a minor issue at best and some might prefer the “raw” sound over a more slick European-style production.
Apparently the album didn’t get a decent release in 2019 and will be available again in a wider release.
The 2-1 disc package is available exclusively at the websites of No Dust Records and Animated Insanity Records.
Official No Dust Records Europe website
Official Animated Insanity Records North America website
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“Vainglory guitarist Corbin King comments”:
“Kate and I are very pleased to have signed a deal with Animated Insanity Records and No Dust Records for the 2-in-1 cd re-release of our two albums “Vainglory” and “Manifesting Destiny”.
The self-titled “Vainglory” album was our most successful release but has been long out of print, and “Manifesting Destiny” was only released by us in a very small limited quantity.
Joe and Henk at Animated Insanity Records and No Dust Records have given both these albums a proper worldwide release and an opportunity for those that missed out on the records the first time around to finally add them to their collection.
In addition to the 2-in-1 cd re-release; we have been inspired to get back to the riff machine and begin working out some ideas for a brand new 3rd Vainglory album.
We are very excited about 2023 and look forward to what the future may hold for our new music endeavor”.
Thank you.
Corbin King & Kate French
Biography:
Vainglory vocalist Kate French recorded three albums with the legendary US classic heavy metal band “Chastain” between 1995 and 2004: Sick Society (1995), In Dementia (1997) and In An Outrage (2004).
Kate recently collaborated with Jim Peterik, the Grammy winning artist and cowriter of the classic anthem “Eye Of The Tiger” for the album: “Tigress – Women Who Rock The World. Longtime Michael Jackson guitarist, Jennifer Batten, also played guitar on the album. Kate’s vocals appear on the record’s title track as well as the ballad “Strong Against The Wind.”
Kate is also currently in the midst of completing her first ever solo album!
Vainglory guitarist Corbin King (Ex-Kenrick) came to worldwide notice with his blistering guitar work on the critically acclaimed Vainglory – “2050” release. At the time, he was proclaimed “One of the brightest young guitar stars to have come around in years”. Blending influences from diverse styles such as traditional metal to shred metal to heavy blues rock, Corbin’s dominant guitar is truly astounding. Corbin’s instrumental CD “Destination” also received “Editor’s Pick” in the June 2004 issue of Guitar World Magazine, which states ‘Corbin seems to have mastered every lick in the book: modal dare-devilry, hi-octane sweep arpeggios, speed picking, and unhinged improvisation.
For many years Corbin has also been known as the go to guitarist for Rap/Hip-Hop phenom, Rittz.
Corbin was the composer and producer of 6 Rittz songs across 4 albums which include the HUGE hit: “Picture Perfect” featuring rap legend, Tech-N9ne. “Picture Perfect” has received millions of streams across all platforms.
Corbin has expanded his skills into the world of music composition and production with his company KING Audio Productions.
