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I saw the name The Neptune Power Federation and immediately my thoughts turned to '60s and '70s psychedelia and acid rock. Normally, I avoid this kind of music because it usually means stoner, a genre I don't have much time for, but this band is clearly different. Sure, a lot of their influences are pure '70s, like the guitar riff in the middle of "Watch the Masters Bleed" which is straight from the first Rush album or the melodies and vocal lines on "Rat Queen" that would fit right in on a Hawkwind record. There's the punk speed of Motörhead, the NWOBHM garage sound of Girlschool and even a little Physical Graffiti-era Zeppelin ("Bound for Hell"). And like the hard rock/heavy metal crossover sound of Ghost, the musicians of The Neptune Power Federation know you can't just emulate what's come before, you have to actually write songs that are catchy and entertaining, and Memoirs of a Rat Queen is full of them.

I know this isn't going to be for everyone. The Neptune Power Federation clearly spends a lot of time in the '70s hard rock arena but for what it is, a heavy metal amalgam of many of the styles that brought us to where we are today, it hits the mark.