WICKED WISDOM is the new metal (or is it nu-metal?) outfit fronted by
Jada Pinkett-Smith. That’s right, the wife of The Fresh Prince is
singing metal songs. When I first heard about this project, I had the
same reaction most people probably had: “Oh my God, what kind of
garbage is this going to be?” And not for any racial reason, or because
I see it as some Hollywood hot-shot using connections to get their foot
in the door. Mostly because I just flat out had low expectations, which
for me is normal with new bands. I honestly didn’t expect Jada to be
able to handle metal vocals.
Well, I was right and I was wrong. The band isn’t total
garbage, in fact, music-wise, it’s really damn good. I think the rhythm
section is incredible, and the guitarists are definitely not just some
wannabes that jumped aboard for the ride. Jada’s vocals, however, to
me, seem a bit forced. Her voice is a little flat for the tone of the
music. Singing a little higher would help her blend in better. When
she’s yelling/shouting it’s fine, it works well, but when she’s trying
to sing with a clean vocal style, it’s not exactly hitting the mark.
Now, I can attribute this to the fact that this is a new venture for
her. Most bands that are popular these days, if you revisit their first
album or even the first two, the vocals are almost always completely
different than what they are now (Metallica, I’m looking in you’re
direction). I can tell you that Jada’s voice does sound strongest on
“Yesterday Don’t Mean,” “Something Inside of Me,” and “Reckoning.”
They put on a good live show, and I’m sure there’s plenty of
growth that will occur if they stick around. I wouldn’t write them off
just yet, we’ll revisit them when they start working on their new album
in October of 2006 and wait to see what they come up with next, maybe
then we’ll be able to tell if they have what it takes to firmly place
themselves in metal history. I give this a rating of 2 not because I
think it’s horrible, but because it’s just short of a 3, and we don’t
use half ratings.
