SHAKRA, formed in Switzerland, way back in 1997 has a very interesting and, I guess typical rock and roll band story line, let me explain. With their first releases "Shakra" (1997), and "Moving Force" (1999), and by touring with GREAT WHITE and URIAH HEEP, their early career was a steep learning curve with dramatic success but the real breakthrough came with their third record "Power Ride" (2001) when singer Pete Wiedmer was forced to leave the band because of ill health, replaced by Mark Fox who immediately put his stamp on the following album "Rising" (2003), The band played several concerts and festivals, one of which was the prestigious "Bang Your Head" event. The controversial video clip for the song "Chains Of Temptation" showed singer Fox giving himself a heroin injection. With the release of their thirteenth album "Invincible" on June 9, 2023, an album that was created during the pandemic. In a way, the quintet was indeed invincible, instead of complaining about the global pause, the band started to write songs infused in melodic hard rocking grooves, their trademark twin, slick guitar solos and most of all about "Freedom".

A funky, fuzzy opening track "The Way It Is" with gruff vocals of Mark Fox over a fairly traditional rock beat, a nice sounding song setting the table for what appears to be a tight well-balanced album, liking what I'm hearing so far, fingers crossed. On to the title track, and I always feel that it should be a staple of the album, and not disappointed with "Invincible" that comes out ominous and surreptitious like a monster hiding under a child's bed, with aggressive and throat grabbing conviction, in-your-face riffs and melted together with vocals that reek of debauchery. "Tell Her I'm Sorry" flirts with opening as a ballad, but BANG, strong, brooding melody and tempo take over full throttle with frenetic assaulting riffs. Grab your air guitars and get your horns up for "House of Rock", with its chorus chanting, rocking anthem. Nothing special, just good old smash mouth, head banging power rock and roll. The album ends with "As Long As I'm Alive", definitely not the strongest song on what is a superb effort, but still provides us with heavy riffs and playful guitar work aided by bold and thick rhythm section all complimenting the husky, raspy vocals.

Twenty-six years and thirteen albums, you're doing something right, and SHAKRA is doing something very right. One of the many elements that I liked about "Invincible" is the diverse sound they presented on each of the twelve songs. They are mostly power metal but give us tastes of AOR and even NWOBHM. This is a very well-done album, and the best compliment I can give is: SHAKRA is immediately going on to my personal playlist.