Woah, have I been transported back in time by about thirty years? It certainly seems that way having listened to the newest release from LORD FOWL, the excellent "Moon Queen". This band is all about the riffs, and rightfully so - they don't do anything all that fancy, it's just good old Rock and Roll.

It goes without saying that I like my Rock and Metal... vintage, classic, however you want to classify anything before the nineties, so this album hits a lot of good things for me. You've got killer riffs, talented singing, and frantic guitars and drums. I know there are probably quite a few bands out there that try to recapture the sound of bands such as QUEEN, DEEP PURPLE, BLACK SABBATH, and not all of them pull it off. But LORD FOWL definitely do, whilst not sounding like they're just simply copying these legendary bands. "Moon Queen" is quality from start to finish, I don't think that I could identify and weak songs, or songs that feel out of place. But it's not all your bog standard Rock and Roll though - you've got some heavier, more Metal bits, and you've got some more Psychedelic vibes going on at times, so they do skip around a couple of decades. It's not a complete mish mash though; they bring out all the best bits of the bands and music styles that they're emulating. They definitely know what they're doing, and they do it well.

The guitar work on "Moon Queen" is amongst the best I've ever heard. The riffs are spread out enough that you don't get tired of them, and they're catchy enough to keep you going until the next one - which usually isn't very long! And when Pellegrino, Jaynes, and Conine aren't rocking your butts off with their fretwork, Freeman is drumming his way onto your good side with a solid rhythm that captures your attention and, most importantly, keeps it. All of these factors, along with the superb dual vocals from Jaynes and Pellegrino, gel so well together to form a brilliant package that gives you a lot more than you might expect. It really has puzzled me as to why I haven't heard of this band before, as they definitely deserve a lot more recognition than they currently have. And despite the fact that I've said they're paying tribute to the classic bands, LORD FOWL have got a lot of originality about them - they don't imitate, they take the ingredients and bake them into a cake entirely their own flavour. So whilst they've got this familiarity about them, at the same time, they're still unlike pretty much anything you've heard before.

I'm extremely glad that I was given this album to review, because I love finding new music that really gets me excited about what it's doing. Without a doubt, LORD FOWL deserve so much more recognition and praise, and everyone reading this should check out the album, you'll adore it.