It could be argued that if you do not like Rise To Addiction you do not like metal! Rise To Addiction may be a fairly new band but they have a fair bit of experience between them. Both guitarists, Steve Wray & John Slater, spent time in Ex-Iron Maiden frontman Blaze Bayley’s solo band  and to cap it all they also managed to get A New Shade Of Black For The Soul mixed by the one and only Andy Sneap!

Sounding like a mix between Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Metallica, coupled with a frontman who sounds like Chris Cornell meeting Jon Davis, with just a sprinkling of Robert Plant. Rise To Addiction have taken a variety of styles, mixed them together and made them their own. For example opening track Cold Season is akin to nu-metal that took a head on collision with hard rock.

The stand out tracks here though have to be the epic 'Everlasting Wave' and 'This Ride'. Both songs combine great riffs with powerful vocals to make a winning combination and spread that over all twelve tracks and what you get is, quite simply, an excellent album. Its metal, it’s alternative and there’s even an amazing piano interlude thrown in there too for good measure.