The opening line of the press blurb which accompanies this release is “Haven’t been slapped in your face today ?” which of course instantly caught my attention as I had not, in fact, received my daily face slap by the time this reached the CD tray. 

After about 30 seconds, I thought I had been transported back to the mid 80s and my jaw dropped as if I had indeed received promised slap. The album starts with some tinny sounding gang vocals proclaiming “I’m In Love” which are then cut across by one of the worst metal screams I have ever had the misfortune of hearing from the heavily accented Jose Sanchez. 

I’m afraid that things didn’t really improve from there with some of the most clichéd lyrics and song structures I think I’ve ever heard. This would have been very average in the 80s and there’s simply no excuse for it today. 

I tend to very much judge a band on the quality of the singer as I think it is the biggest defining factor of the overall sound and therein lies the root of the problem here. I’m afraid Jose Sanchez is just awful and whatever the rest of the band are doing around him cannot possibly redeem the overall quality. 

Add into the mix some of the most average (at best) songs I’ve heard in quite a while and you get the idea that I’m not really going to be giving this top marks and certainly won’t be recommending this to anyone.

Avoid at all costs.