BASTIAN is an Italian Rock/Hard Rock band, formed in Sicily in 2003. This new full-length album contains ten tracks. "Strange Thoughts" is the leading track. The main riff falls somewhere on the Hard Rock/Metal continuum, though it's fairly formulated. When you add in the high end, heavy vibrato vocals, it is somewhat reminiscent of THE SCORPIONS for me. "The Pide Piper" is a little slower and the guitars ooze with wah-wah. This is more of a blues based Rock track but some of the chords connect in an odd way for me. "Vlad" opens with a heavy riff but goes more introverted in the verses. Once again I question the way these sections connect as it just seems disjointed, making it difficult to pin down the sound they are trying to get across. The chorus resonates well however.

"Terminators" has a deeper and darker sound with an air of mystery. This time the connections between passages are more understandable and readily available. "Man of the Light" is another introspective and emotional song, where the vocal harmonies are on point. This song has a realness to it that is hard to deny. "Man in Black" circles back around to the other direction, with a Metal riff and some additional bombast, running slightly faster than some of the earlier songs. After a few early miss steps this song seems to me more indicative of what the band can do well on the album. "Steel Heart" has a more energetic riff that reminds me of the song "We Rock" by DIO, and has some Power Metal elements to boot. The album is getting better as it moves along for the most part. "Smokin Joe" is an ode to former heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier. As would be more consistent with that time, it has a heavy blues sound.

Closing the album is "Wind Song." It is LED ZEPPELIN influenced with the acoustic guitar and portrayal of hope in the chorus. Overall, in the end I just think it all just falls short of potential. The effort is noted but there is not much you can take away in terms of memorability. Many of the songs suffer from the same mid-tempo drudgery and simplistic riffing and this does not sound like a band that has been together for as long as they have, in my opinion.