Working seemingly tirelessly out of his homeland of Israel, Avi Rosenfeld is a man with a mission, and that mission is to produce as many albums of rock music as a human being can possibly manage in a single lifetime. With that in mind, here we present his sixtieth, yes, I said sixtieth, album of hard rocking. He has an interesting modus operandi, pick a style, recruit some likeminded instrumentalists, and produce a whole album in that style. This one is called "Very Classic Very Metal" and as you would expect the music is all throwbacks to the sounds of MAIDEN, DEEP PURPLE, RAINBOW, JUDAS PRIEST and many other stalwarts of the 70s and 80s Heavy Metal scene. The guest list is too extensive to get into, suffice it to say there are a lot of different musicians performing here, all of whom are expert performers. The vocals are all handled by talented UK -based Greek front man and singer Tasos Lazaris.

The album launches with what, frankly, is a tough listen. The song is called "Bataclan", and I can't imagine there's a Rock or Metal fan out there that does not understand the likely implications of a song so named. The lyrics are graphic, and I cannot help but feel that they could have been handled with a little more sensitivity. It's not that they are offensive, but against the backdrop of a galloping Heavy Metal riff it seems as though Rosenfeld could be singing about some epic battle you might find in a DIO style Fantasy Metal track. But he isn't, he is singing about the merciless slaughter of almost 100 young Rock fans who were just out for a good night and found themselves running for their lives as their friends died around them. I appreciate what he was doing, but it doesn't make it any easier to listen to.

"Rise" is a classic NWOBHM style track, a love letter to traditional Heavy Metal but with an Eastern flavour to the riffing, you might hear a band like IRON MAIDEN working in an influence in this manner. "Rainbow Far Away" needs no explanation, the Proggy guitar style of Ritchie Blackmore has been expertly recreated and is instantly recognisable, as are the swirling Hammond organs and fanciful composition. "By The Power of My Sword" brings us back into familiar traditional Heavy Metal territory before the Hammonds are back on "Hear the Devil" with guest keyboardist Michael Berry performing a wonderful introduction in the style of a church organ, the track is not much like MAIDEN, but Tasos Lazaris is summoning his best Bruce Dickinson on this track, sounding uncannily similar and showing off the versatility of his voice.

The album continues in much this vein, flitting between Prog-influenced Heavy Metal and purely traditional forms. Eight-minute instrumental "Song of Honor" deserves special mention for its scope and ambition, as do the fantastic guitars on "Out of the Clouds".

It's clear that Rosenfeld is as instrumentally capable as he is prolific, there's not a foot out of place in the performances on this album, and after sixty attempts he has completely nailed the production aspect of it as well. I did have a little quibble with how he handled the issue of the Bataclan, but this did not spoil the overall enjoyment of the album for me. Rock on Avi, here's to sixty more!