The brainchild of former Vicious Rumors bassist Dave Starr (now converted to six-string, although he handles all guitars on this debut), coupled with female vocalist London Wilde. The highest compliment I can pay Wilde is that much of the time she’s indistinguishable from high-end male vocalists, husky voiced when not scaling into the stratosphere. No cooing or acting demur within these ten tracks (Starr adds the occasional backing voice).

Musically, especially the guitar tones, this recalls classic Crimson Glory (apart from ‘In This World’, which would yield $4500 towards a new car from the government’s recently concluded incentive program): lively guitar interplay, if not downright speedy, accented by piercing high vox. The opening ‘Rose In The Dark’ rips, as does ‘Rise’ and ‘Generation Next’. Things get a little grittier on ‘Touching God’, while ‘Nevermore’ is a slower, ballad type construct, introduced with acoustic guitar, but by its conclusion, Wilde is living up to her surname.

The last third fails to live up to the standards set early on, but it’s a little more “experimental” than its surroundings. Hopefully they can progress beyond being a studio act, as I’d be interested to hear this stuff live!