Stephen
Gone is the silky voice of Marcie Free and the smooth AOR spin in their 80s days. Old fans might find this a bit disappointing, especially because with the installment of Paul Shortino, King Kobra decided to completely turns their head to a massive riffs fueled hard rock with a notable blues-drenched friction. At first, I reject this idea and condemned this album as a blunder move on their part, but after giving it a second chance, turns out to be a completely enjoyable album.
Shortino's gritty and rough vocal character fits the heavier track such as 'Rock This House' - check out also the solo, very nice and neat; 'This Is How We Roll' with an insane scream to start the tune; or the blistering 'Top of The World'. Although you still find some hit-and-miss, such as after the great midtempo gem of 'Live Forever', King Kobra slipped to a sloppy downhill on 'Tear Down The Walls' and 'We Got A Fever', but quickly regained the momentum again in the acoustical-driven power ballad, 'Cryin' Turns To Rain' and another atmospheric closing tune, 'Fade Away'.
If you expect a melodic rock form of King Kobra exactly like in their heydays, this might be a let down, but if we’re flexible to their change and accept the fact that Shortino is also a brilliant performer and replacement, this is actually a wonderful album. I have another proof of his fantastic voice which you can also heard in the heaviest tune, 'Screamin' For More' here, you ought to listen this song yourself and decide whether he's up for the job or not.
Great sound production, lots of high octane hard rock tunes, but sadly there are still quite a few average tracks. Probably needs two or three spins to fully appreciate this, but King Kobra is back in full strength and ready to strike again.