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MusicSummer of Blacker Love

militia vox reclaims space in industrial rock

June 11, 2019
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Born Out Of Darkness and away we go! Into the dark, jaded, splendid mind of New York rocker Militia Vox.

Led by…Militia Vox, lead singer of Judas Priestess, this industrial rock goddess was my first introduction into the haunting sounds of post-punk realness performed by a Black woman. Or what she describes as alternative metal with a tinge of urban goth. Her own modern take on dark, heavy metal that’s bound together with brooding lyricism, cinematic melodies, and messages of female autonomy. A classically-trained pianist in her own right, Militia Vox also plays the saxophone, drums, guitar and bass, to boot. She has even recorded, toured and performed with music icons like Cyndi Lauper, Nancy Sinatra and Living Colour. A musical rebel, Militia Vox bulldozed her own space in rock music, one in which a proud Black woman could make the genre her own. Showing me, for the first time since Fefe Dobson, how commanding, vicious and hardcore and unapologetic Black girls can be..

“Music is 100 percent my identity, my religion, my faith,” Miltia Vox told Tagg Magazine. “I live to serve the muse. Everything I write is a slice of my soul. My songs are my children, my offspring. It’s my therapy, it’s my sexuality, it’s how I see the world, and how I perceive how the world sees me. Id, Ego, Superego…”

“I never felt satisfied by women’s traditional so-called place in music or what is deemed socially acceptable. Especially a Black or brown woman’s place in music. Most often you see women of color as background vocalists or part of a choir in the shadows, behind some socially acceptable front person. Or if they’re in the front, they’re in a girl group or if they’re solo, they’re screaming the ‘Black girl songbook’ with all the typical bells and whistles. I’ve always made it my mission to change that — to push the boundaries of how a frontwoman is seen and what they are capable of.”

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