Black Star Riders - The Killer Instinct

Published February 12 2015

*=Staff's pick	The Killer Instinct* Bullet Blues Finest Hour Soldierstown* Charlie I Gotta Go Blindsided Through The Motions Sex, Guns & Gasoline Turn In Your Arms You Little Liar

Genre	Hard Rock	Ricky Warwick	Vocals
Tracks	10	Ricky Warwick	Guitar
Running time	46 Min.	Damon Johnson	Guitar
Label	Nuclear Blast	Scott Gorham	Guitar
Release	20 February 2015	Robbie Crane	Bass
Country	USA	Jimmy DeGrasso	Drums
Producer	Nick Raskulinecz	-	Keyboard
Similar artists	---

With its second effort, reincarnated rockers Black Star Riders follow the footsteps of the debut album, 2013's All Hell Breaks Loose. The music is still very similar to the band's roots in Thin Lizzy and obviously this unit has already had its share of hard times before the name change and I guess that the band's validity will always be questioned one way or the other for the rest of its career.

Stylistically, this new release consequently doesn't differ much in comparison to its predecessor, but at the same time I also think that it sometimes doesn't have a really determined edge to it. It struggles a little in terms of building songs that can come out as killers and the best songs don't have the full capacity to reach a really large-scaled enthusiasm to open up my selective metal heart. I see myself looking hard for moments that really are able to set the tone and also colossally come out to bring forth something that makes me wanna get up and rock, but almost every time I get denied.

Despite my negativity, I still enjoy a fair share of what's offered though. The groovy appearance is constantly indeed apparent. It provides a lovely framework to the record's end result and at the end of the day it is able to make this new music sound like something older, but still fresh with today's options included as well. Had it contained just a little bit more accuracy in the overall songwriting, this one could positively have ended up with a far greater outcome.

See also review of: Heavy Fire , All Hell Breaks Loose
See also: interview with Ricky/Damon

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	3	8	7	6

Summary
6 chalices of 10 - Tobbe