I have been a fan of Ignitor for a long time and was happy to see one of their CD's actually available in a record store in Las Vegas.The Spider Queen is a concept album, performed with the return of Beverly Barrington and new singer Jason McMaster. Of course, the three core members, Batlord (Stewart Laurence), Brendon Bigelow and Pat Doyle round out the lineup.I love the idea of the concept album, if done well. In the case of the Spider Queen, the music is top notch, well-played, and with a great concept that holds it all together. Batlord not only knows how to play a guitar, but can write a decent rift and song. Seeing as how well he wrote The Spider Queen, he could probably do well at writing sci-fi or fantasy novels.My only beef about this album, besides the cheesy artwork on the CD cover (which reminds me of Battleaxe's first album) is the vocals. Jason McMaster has quite a range to his voice, and there is no doubt he was considered because he could reach all the parts the departed Erika Swinnich (SP?) sang on their previous work. He has a powerful mid-range voice, when he sticks with it. However, his high range can get a bit grating and he tends to go there too much. The other thing is that the mix of the vocals is a bit muddled. There are many songs, especially when the harmonies kick in, that I can't understand a single word. They are just articulated vocal noises. Since I don't really listen to lyrics anyway, not understanding the words shouldn't be a problem except that for a traditional metal band, it was a bit startling to sound so... should I say incoherent? Because of the problem with the vocals, I paid more attention to the lyrics than I usually do and after four listens, I finally found a few of the songs where I can at least understand some of them. I had to read the lyric pages in the CD booklet just to figure out what the rest of the songs were about.Musically, this album seems even heavier than their previous efforts. It kicks some serious butt. The guitar team of Batlord and Beverly are a metal force to be reckoned with. Brendon's bass holds the bottom together, and Pat's drumming is up there with the best of the double-bass blast beaters. These guys and girl love what they do, and it shows.Overall, don't let my opinion of the vocals put you off. Pick this album up and give it a try. These guys and girl ROCK! They play metal the way it should be, and have the attitude to go with it. Highly recommended.