Something for a nice afternoon drive by, a short stroll on the beach, depends if you have a beach line. Who would have known that I would be listening to melodic Hard Rock / AOR from the Czech Republic? I guess that nowadays everything is achievable, it takes guts, courage and motivation, and for the past eight years or so, BLACK TIGER has been showing that possibilities could be endless if putting the right mindset.

With a few EPs spread throughout their roll, which received appropriate attention from the media, a rightful decision came into the reality and a debut, self-titled, album was released, via the services of FreeMood. Without listening to the old EPs, I gathered that BLACK TIGER were ready for this debut and I can tell you that it shows.

Circling nearly every bit of features that comes to mind from this fine Rock mixture emblem, big names such as JOURNEY, FOREIGNER, NIGHT RANGER breath through the band's music. It would be hard to escape the music's melodic direction, as to expected in this line of Rock, and gladly, BLACK TIGER portrayed their melodies with grace, ascertaining their harmonies as a powerful quality throughout the entire release. Their catchy songwriting, though commonplace, nourishes on their solid riffery, prominent lead guitar work and fine rhythm section, thus attributing it to be a hook-laden piece. I believe that through notable hitters such as "Against The Grain", "Reason To Live" and "She's A Liar", would best service you as a smooth introduction with the band's efforts, right before sinking into the entire album.

Probably the weakest link on the album is vocal line. It surely answers to the vocal pattern of AOR singers, yet, the accent and the lack of thrill lowered a bit the energy level of the music. With respects to the frontman, Jan Trbusek, which has a credible voice, it may be possible that it is a studio thing, meaning, the place of the vocals in the mix. Anyhow, BLACK TIGER need that vocal kick on the next album for sure.

BLACK TIGER's debut might not be a blaze in the dark, however, it is another foothold in Eastern Europe for melodic Hard Rock and AOR. Where brutality in Metal exists and thrives, there is also a room for 80s inspirations to join the fun.